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American Sunday School 



THE 



LIFE OF MOSES. 



BY G. T. BEDELL, D. D. 

RECTOR OP ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 



WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN S. UNION, AND REVISED 
BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 






AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
PHILADELPHIA: 

NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 



1832. 




90 



YW 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1832, 
by Paul Beck, Jr., Treasurer, in trust for the American Sunday- 
school Union, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



//£/ 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON. 



PREFACE. 



The object of the writer of the Life of 
Coses, has been to maintain a perfectly strict 
delity to the sacred narrative ; and this he 
as reason to believe he has accomplished in 
great degree. He believes that there is no 
ingle incident in the Life of Moses which 
as not received appropriate consideration; 
and he has endeavoured to weave into the 
texture of the narrative all such collateral in- 
formation and practical suggestion as seemed 
suited to the character of the readers for 
whose benefit it was designed. The chief dif- 
ficulty which the writer has experienced, has 
been to bring the whole within any thing like 
a moderate compass. Could he have consulted 
his inclination, and made the work embrace 
a complete history of the Jewish people under 
the administration of Moses, it would have 

3 



IV PREFACE. 

made at least three volumes of the size of the 
present, and then have embraced very many 
topics which are already treated of in the pub- 
lications of the American Sunday School 
Union, especially in the " Biblical Antiqui- 
ties." The author now commits the work 
to the public, with the prayer that it may be 
among the means of instructing and interest- 
ing a class of readers, viz. the young, in whose 
welfare he always has felt, and always hopes 
to feel, a deep and lively concern. 

Philada., Aug. 9th, 1832. 



THE 

LIFE OF MOSES. 



CHAPTER I. 

Preliminary Remarks. — Countries connected 
ivith the History of Moses. 

There is nothing more pleasant, and there 
is scarcely any thing more useful, than to as- 
certain every thing which we can about the 
great men who lived upon the earth a long 
while before we were born. It is pleasant, 
because it brings before our minds a great 
many curious things as to the manners and 
customs of other people, and their habits of 
thinking and acting in many instances so dif- 
ferent from our own. It is also very useful, 
because we may learn from their example. 
If they were good men we shall be benefited 
by observing the path they pursued, and if 
they were bad we shall be taught to avoid 
their evil courses. God's holy book, the 
Bible, has many instances of both kinds of 
men ; and the apostle Paul tells us, that 
" whatsoever things were written aforetime 
were written for our learning." 

a 2 ' 5 



6 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

Among the greatest men who lived in old 
times, was Moses, the subject of this present 
history. He was one of the most extraor- 
dinary characters of which we read in any 
book ; and he lived in a very extraordinary 
period, and in anextraordinary country. From 
his very infancy he was the subject of the 
most remarkable providences of God ; and 
through every year of his life, even to his 
death, every thing about him was remarkable. 
All this we shall show our readers in the 
course of this narrative ; and we hope that we 
shall be able to make a very interesting and 
useful book, because every thing we shall 
state about Moses will be strictly true. We 
shall gather it all out of the Bible, which is 
God's holy book, and therefore must be true. 
There will be a great many curious and valu- 
able things which we shall collect from other 
sources, in order to explain and illustrate the 
history ; but for what we say of Moses we 
mean to take the Bible as our sole authority, 
and not to write one syllable which is con- 
trary to any thing there said. 

But before we enter into the history of Mo- 
ses, our readers, no doubt, will wish to know 
something about those countries with which 
his history is principally connected. The 
whole of the life of Moses was spent in Egypt 
and Arabia. He never was in the Holy Land, 
or Palestine. 

Egypt, is a country in that great division 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 7 

of the earth called Africa — one of the five 
great divisions of the globe. Africa is bound- 
ed on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on 
the east by Asia, the Red Sea, and the Indian 
Ocean, and on the west by the Southern and 
Atlantic Oceans Egypt lies in North Africa : 
it is bounded on the north by the Mediterra- 
nean Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and 
Arabia, on the south by what is now called 
Nubia, and on the west by Barca and a great 
desert. It contains about 200,000 square 
miles, though only about 17,000, that is-^is 
capable of cultivation. Egypt may be said to 
consist of one great valley, through which 
runs the river Nile, one of the most remark- 
able rivers in the world : no one has yet been 
able to find out where it rises. This river 
annually overflows its banks, which is the 
method God has provided to furnish the 
country on its borders with water, as little or 
no rain falls there. 

The land of Goshen, as far as we can as- 
certain, was situated on the most eastern 
branch of the river Nile, and either bordered 
on, or came very near to the Mediterranean 
Sea ; north-east of it there was the desert of 
Shur, which was a part of Arabia Petrea; 
and then, still farther to the north-east, the 
land of Canaan. The river Nile did not 
usually overflow its bank, in all of that part 
which is called in Scripture Goshen, conse- 
quently it was very favourable to the Israel- 



8 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

itcs as pasture land for their cattle ; and is 
on that account called " the best of the 
land." 

The only other country connected with the 
history of Moses is Arabia, or rather that 
division of Arabia called Arabia Petrse, or 
the Stony Arabia. It is a country distin- 
guished principally by the wanderings of the 
children of Israel, and will require some at- 
tention as we go along. 



CHAPTER II. 

Brief Notice of the History of Jacob and his 
children. 

Every person who has been in the habit 
of reading the Scriptures must be acquainted 
with the history of Joseph. It is one of the 
most beautiful and touching narratives which 
is any where to be found, and illustrates, in a 
very remarkable manner, the dealings of God's 
providence. We can only say a few words 
about this history to prepare our way. By 
the cruelty of his brethren, Joseph was sold 
to some merchants who were descendants of 
Ishmael, therefore called Ishmaelites. They 
were on their way from Gilead to Egypt, 
bearing spicery and balm, which they traded 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 9 

away either for money, or for some of the 
luxuries of that land. These merchants sold 
Joseph to one of the great men of the nation, 
Potiphar, captain of the king's guard. Here 
Joseph conducted himself with the most ex- 
emplary propriety ; so, that his master loved 
him, and at length made him steward of his 
household, which was the most honourable 
station to which a servant could be advanced. 
But there is no situation which is not surround- 
ed with dangers. The wife of Potiphar 
wished Joseph to be unfaithful to his master, 
and because he would not yield to a wicked 
act, she became offended, and determined on 
his ruin. She framed a very plausible story, 
every word of which was false, and thus made 
her husband so angry with Joseph that he 
put him into prison. But the very same Pro- 
vidence which first led him to be sold into the 
family of Potiphar, watched over him for good 
in the prison where he was cast. Here he 
again conducted himself with perfect propriety, 
and was soon, though a prisoner, made a kind 
of inferior officer, and enjoyed a comparative 
degree of comfort. It was while in prison 
that God enabled him to give a true interpret- 
ation to two dreams — those of the chief butler 
and chief baker, who were his fellow-prison- 
ers. Every one must remember the story of 
the chief butler's ingratitude, who when he 
was released forgot Joseph. This is the way 
of the world. We are anxious for the ser- 



10 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

vices of others when we are in distress, but 
think no more about them when our affliction 
is over; and, worse than all, when we are 
afflicted we are willing to resort to God, and 
make many pious resolutions, but when our 
troubles pass away, our vows are forgotten. 
Such ingratitude to God is dreadful. 

But though man forgets, God remembers. 
It so happened, by the will of God, that the 
king of Egypt had a dream, which was pro- 
phetic of the state of the country for some 
years to come. As no one could give the in- 
terpretation, then the chief butler remembered 
Joseph. He was sent for ; and his interpret- 
ation was so wonderful, and his advice so 
judicious, that the king thought there was no 
one in the land of Egypt more competent than 
he to manage his affairs in the difficult emer- 
gency which was coming. In this the king 
was wise ; for Joseph had the living God to 
counsel and direct him. 

Under the administration of Joseph, every 
thing was done to prevent the dreadful effects 
of the famine which was coming. Ample 
provision was laid up in stores during the 
seven years of plenty ; so that when the fa- 
mine came on there was no danger to be ap- 
prehended. 

This famine came at the time which had 
been specified ; and it raged not only in Egypt, 
but in Canaan, where Jacob lived. Much 
distressed for want of food, Jacob heard that 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 11 

there was plenty of corn in Egypt, and he 
sent his sons to buy. We cannot give even 
an outline of the interesting circumstances 
which took place. Suffice it to say, after a 
while, Joseph made himself known to his 
brethren ; and as there were to be several 
years of famine, he determined with true filial 
piety to have his old father near him, so that 
he could supply his wants, and be a comfort 
to him in his declining days. How beautiful 
is filial piety, and how remarkably esteemed 
in the sight of God. " Honour thy father and 
thy mother, that thy days may be long in the 
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," 
and this, which is the fifth commandment, is 
called by the apostle Paul, by way of distinc- 
tion, the " commandment with promise." 
According to the wishes of Joseph, Jacob left 
Canaan, and travelled down to Egypt, where, 
as before stated, he and his family were 
quietly put in possession of the land of 
Goshen. 

Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen 
years. " And it came to pass after these things, 
that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is 
sick." — Gen, xlvii. 28. He then hastened 
down to Goshen, and arrived just in time to 
receive his father's benediction, and to close 
his eyes. Thus died Jacob, at the age of 147 
years ; and his body was taken back to Ca- 
naan, and buried in the cave of Machpelah, 
the family burying ground. 



12 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

Joseph and his brethren then returned to 
Egypt. As might have been expected, they 
were afraid, that now as their father was dead 
Joseph would revenge himself for their ill 
treatment. But they were mistaken. Joseph 
feared God ; and he assured his brethren that 
he had no thought of any thing but kindness. 
He told them, that though they had treated 
him ill, God made it turn out for good ; as by 
this means their lives were saved from famine. 
Joseph lived to the age of 110 years, when he 
died. By his own order he was not to be 
buried in Egypt ; but taken to Canaan as soon 
as in the providence of God they should in- 
herit the land promised to Abraham and Isaac 
and Jacob. The body of Joseph was em- 
balmed, so that it would be preserved ; it was 
then put into a coffin, and kept sacredly till 
the period which he had alluded to arrived. 



CHAPTER III. 

History of the children of Jacob, after the 
death of their father. — Dreadful cruelty of 
Pharaoh. — Birth of Moses. 

From the period of the death of Joseph, 
during a space of about 64 years, the sacred 
history does not give us any definite inform- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 13 

ation. " It did now fall in with the plan of 
Moses, to describe minutely the manner in 
which the descendants of the patriarch Jacob 
spent their time in the land of Goshen, But 
we may readily believe, that as long as a 
sense of the benefits which their land had re- 
ceived from Joseph continued fresh in the 
minds of the Egyptian monarchs, his relations 
would at least receive equitable treatment at 
their hands. No truth, however, stands bet- 
ter attested, than that he who confers benefits 
upon a people at large, need not look for any 
lasting return of gratitude; and that which 
occurs every day, among the polished nations 
of Europe, was not unlikely to happen in a 
more rude and remote age of the world."* 

It would appear that the apprehensions of 
the Egyptians were excited, lest, on account 
of the immense increase of the Israelites, as 
they were called, they might eventually take 
possession of the whole land. If we examine 
the early history of Egypt, we shall not be 
surprised at this, for the country had once be- 
fore been subdued by a people of a pastoral 
character, not more than 300 years before the 
time of Joseph ; and it was not until after a 
struggle of about 30 years, that these people 
were driven off into Palestine, where they 
afterwards became known as the Philistines. 
It is evident, from the whole history, that the 
Egyptians were afraid the children of Israel 
* History of the Bible, by Rev. G. R. Gleg. 

B 



14 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

would eventually turn to be their enemies; 
and this was the great motive which gave rise 
to their cruel conduct. The history tells us, 
that the children of Israel " increased abun- 
dantly and multiplied, and waxed exceeding 
mighty." And then, as if in the most perfectly 
rational way of accounting for the difficulties 
which occurred, the history tells us, that 
" there arose another king who knew not 
Joseph." He thought of nothing but the 
difficulties in which he and his people might 
possibly be involved ; and the following speech 
shows the views and policy which he en- 
tertained : — " Behold," says he, " the peo- 
ple of the children of Israel, are more and 
mightier than we ; come on, let us deal wisely 
with them, lest they multiply, and it come to 
pass that when there falleth out any war, they 
join also unto our enemies, and fight against 
us, and so get them up out of the land." They 
had some reason to be afraid, for there was 
no kind of natural tie or connection between 
the Egyptians and the children of Israel — 
their habits were different, their occupations 
were different, and their religions were en- 
tirely unlike each other. One was the most 
gross and stupid idolatry ; the other the wor- 
ship of the only living and true God. But 
the Egyptian king totally mistook his true 
policy, and yet there can be no doubt that 
it was a case which required very peculiarly 
judicious management. But what could 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 15 

be expected from those who had no true 
knowledge of God, and consequently no pro- 
per sense of justice and equity. The king 
and the people of Egypt supposed that there 
was no way of getting out of the embarrass- 
ment, and securing their own safety, but by 
devising some plan by which the Israelites 
might either be at once exterminated, or their 
increase entirely prevented. They did not 
dare to try the first plan, for the Israelites 
were too many. But what they were afraid 
to try by force, they sought to accomplish by 
stratagem. The history is exceedingly brief, 
and we are not, therefore, able to tell the pre- 
paratory steps which were taken. All we 
know is, that the first plan of the king which 
is recorded, was to reduce the Israelites to a 
state of slavery, and to employ them on the 
public works. All the time they were so en- 
gaged they were to be treated with the great- 
est rigour ; made to work beyond their strength. 
They were employed, we are told, in build- 
ing treasure cities, and two of these cities are 
named, Pithom and Raamses. The sacred 
history is remarkably strong in the language 
which it uses to represent their wretched con- 
dition : " And the Egyptians made the chil- 
dren of Israel to serve with rigour : and they 
made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in 
mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of 
service in the field : all their service, wherein 
they made them serve, tvas with rigour." — 



16 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

Exod. i. 13, 14. All this was done, no doubt, 
under the expectation that multitudes of them 
would perish under the tremendous rigor of 
their servitude ; and probably this would have 
been the case, had they not been under the 
peculiar protection of the Most High, and by 
him intended to be preserved. In conse- 
quence of this we are told, that the more the 
Egyptians afflicted them, the more they mul- 
tiplied and grew. 

Disappointed in this plan, Pharaoh tried 
another. He ordered the Egyptian midwives 
to put every male child to death as soon as it 
was born ; but God touched their hearts, and 
instead of obeying, they evaded the order of 
the king. Determined, however, not to have 
his purpose defeated, he gave strict orders to 
all his people, that whenever they should as- 
certain that a male child was born, they were to 
put it to death under pain of his displeasure. 

How many perished under the sanguinary 
orders of this Egyptian Herod, the history 
does not tell us. We have reason to believe 
the numbers were great, because God made 
on the Egyptians so terrible a retribution as 
to slay all their first born. Be this as it may, 
however, it is not easy to imagine the distress 
which this order must have occasioned, or 
how many fathers and mothers were compel- 
led to see their dear little children torn from 
their arms and thrown into the Nile, where 
they would be devoured by the fishes and the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 17 

crocodiles. How thankful ought every young 
reader to be that he lives in an age and coun- 
try, where the religion of the blessed Jesus 
prevents all such outrages upon the feelings 
and the rights of humanity. 

It was in that most distressing posture of 
affairs, the history of which has been briefly 
given, when the subject of our biography came 
into being. There was a certain man of the 
tribe of Levi named Amram ; — the tribe of 
Levi were so called because they were the 
descendants of Levi, the third son of Jacob, 
by his first wife Leah. This Amram had been 
married a good while before, to a woman of 
the same tribe, named Jochebed ; and at the 
time when this dreadful order was given had 
two children living ; one was a daughter, 
named Miriam, and the other was a son, 
named Aaron. As is generally supposed, it 
was two or three years after the last cruel 
order of the king, that the wife of Amram had 
another child, which proved to be a boy. It 
appears from several passages of Scripture, 
JExod. ii. 2, Acts vii. 20, Heb. xi. 23, that 
this child was of very remarkable beauty of 
features, and elegance of form. As was per- 
fectly natural, his poor mother tried to hide 
his birth as long as she was able ; and she 
succeeded in concealing him for three months. 
But when she could not longer hide him, she 
had nothing else to do than either to give him 
up to the executioner, or to expose him her- 
b2 



18 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

self to be swept away by the river. What a 
dreadful alternative. In this predicament she 
chose the latter course, preferring to trust his 
life to the protection of God, and thus run the 
risk of his preservation, to the dreadful cer- 
tainty of his destruction if she gave him up 
to the servants of the kin£. Her conduct in 
this is to be viewed in no ordinary light, for 
Paul tells us, in the 1.1th chapter of the epistle 
to the Hebrews, that she was actuated by a 
principle of faith. An impression was wrought 
upon her mind that he would be saved ; and 
she took the means which she supposed most 
likely to accomplish her desires. The event 
was according to her anticipations, and the 
interesting incident with which we shall 
commence the next chapter, brings us to the 
more particular history of Moses. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Perils of Moses's Infancy. — Wonderful pre- 
servation and remarkable elevation. 

[From before Christ 1571 down to 1531] 

This little boy who was born during this 
most disastrous period of the Israelitish his- 
tory, was destined, in the providence of God, 
to pass through the most remarkable vicissi- 



THE LIFE OF M0SE9. 19 

tudes. His very infancy was encompassed 
by dangers, which nothing but the most mark- 
ed interpositions of divine Providence could 
possibly have averted. For three months 
after his birth his mother contrived either to 
conceal the fact, or to conceal him from the 
investigations made by the people, or the 
officers of Pharaoh. And it is more than in- 
timated by the apostle Paul, that it was at 
great personal risk ; for he tells us, as an evi- 
dence of hex faith, that " she was not afraid 
of the king's commandment ;" which seems 
to be tolerably decisive evidence, that by 
hiding him she became liable to the punish- 
ment of death for her disobedience to the 
king's command. 

The time soon came, however, when she 
could conceal him no longer. She ascertained 
that all her efforts would now prove vain, and 
that if she did not resort to some extraordinary 
expedient, the child would be cast into the river. 
In this most distressing state of mind what 
could she do ? We have no doubt that her 
first resort was to prayer for the divine di- 
rection ; and this is the only resort of the af- 
flicted — from this they derive comfort, strength 
and hope. In her extremity God, indeed, 
appears to have directed her ; and, " hoping 
against hope," she mournfully commenced 
the preparation. She first made what the 
Sacred History calls an ark, probably a little 
boat, just large enough to bear the weight of 



20 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the child without sinking. This little boat 
was made of bulrushes. The bulrush was a 
kind of reed or cane, called papyrus, which 
grew upon the banks of the Nile in great 
abundance, and was exceedingly light, and 
from the bark of which was formed a material 
on which to write. From this word our term 
paper is derived. Of this light substance, 
which would so easily float, the mother made 
her little boat ; and to construct it perfectly 
water tight, she covered it both within and 
without with slime and pitch. This slime 
and pitch is supposed to mean that substance 
which is now generally known under the 
name bitumen, of which there are several 
kinds. That which is called naptha swims 
on water, it being considerably lighter. A 
little boat made of the bark of the cane and 
covered with bitumen would not only be 
water tight, but of very remarkable lightness. 
Into this light vessel, when she could no lon- 
ger avoid it, the mother put her darling child. 
She took every means in her power to insure 
its safety, and then committed it in faith to 
God. This is the true spirit of dependance 
upon God. We must employ the means 
which He has provided, and then submit all 
to His wise and sovereign disposal. 

After having made this little boat, and put 
her son within it, this afflicted mother pro- 
ceeded to the banks of the river Nile to hide 
the child, where she thought no enemy would 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 21 

think of looking for him. She deposited the 
boat among the " flags " which grew on the 
banks of the river. These flags are of the 
same species with the reeds or rushes of which 
the boat was built. They grow in immense 
numbers oh the banks of the Nile, and some- 
times rise to the height of 30 or 40 feet. 
There are two reasons which may have led 
the mother of the child to place him here. In 
the first place, as the " flags " or reeds were 
growing in great numbers, a little ark if placed 
among them would be less likely to be dis- 
covered; and, in the second place, a river 
always runs less rapidly where it has the 
kind of obstruction which reeds oppose to its 
progress. Here, therefore, there was less 
danger of the ark being carried away. But, 
after all, these precautions would have amount- 
ed to nothing, if God had not seen fit, for the 
accomplishment of his own wise designs, to 
take care of this little helpless infant. After 
this was done, this tender mother was com- 
pelled to leave it and return ; for had she staid 
to watch the issue of her plans, it would at 
once have excited the attention of the cruel 
officers, and have directed them to the place 
of its concealment. She went home with a 
heavy, though certainly not with a despond- 
ing heart, for we have reason to believe that 
she trusted in the Lord, and looked for some 
manifestation of his mercy in behalf of the 
child of her faith and prayers. She did not, 



22 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



however, leave her little one in this dangerous 
predicament without having some one to 
watch the issue. His little sister Miriam, 
who is supposed to have been about eight or 
ten years of age, was placed to observe all 
that happened. Even she did nof dare to go 
very near, but, as the history tells us, "stood 
afar off," so that, though she could see where 
the ark was, she might not be suspected. 

It is a wise saying, and a wonderfully true 
one, that " man's extremity is God's oppor- 
tunity." What now occurred showed that 
the whole matter had been ordered and ar- 
ranged by the hand of God. The ark had 
lain but a little while floating among the reeds, 
when directed by the providence of God, the 
daughter of king Pharaoh, attended by her 




THE UFE OF MOSES. 23 

maidens, came down from her father's royal 
palace to bathe in the river. In countries 
where the weather is always hot, as it is in 
Egypt, bathing is one of the greatest luxuries 
that can be enjoyed ; and in those early days 
the great people were more accustomed to 
bathe in the rivers than they are at present. We 
do not know from the Bible the name of Pha- 
rsoh's daughter, but we are told elsewhere that 
it was Thermuthis. While she was bathing, 
hsr maids amused themselves by walking along 
the banks ; but she herself appears first to 
have seen the little ark among the reeds. No 
sooner had she seen it than she sent one of 
her maids to bring it ; and when it was brought 
slie opened it. No doubt she was surprised 
vhen she found that it contained a little child ; 
and the sacred history tells us that the " babe 
vept, and that she had compassion on him." 
This was natural. Who could see a little 
helpless child thus exposed to danger without 
the feeling of compassion ? surely, no one of 
the female sex. The stern executioner of her 
lather might, indeed, have torn the child from 
the protection of the ark, and have cast it off 
into the middle of the Nile ; but the heart of 
the king's daughter was melted into compas- 
sion, and the first remark which she made 
was, " This is one of the Hebrew's children." 
She knew what her father had commanded. 
She knew that it was to evade this order that 
even a mother was forced to leave her child 



24 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

thus exposed, and God softened her heart, so 
that she determined that this one at least 
should not be destroyed. But the child was 
too young for her to take away : what could 
she do ? Now see the hand of God's over- 
ruling providence. When Miriam saw the 
maid of the king's daughter take up the ark 
and carry it to her mistress, she ran down to 
the place, and no sooner did she hear the 
king's daughter say, " This is one of the 
Hebrew children," than she said, " shall I 
go and call thee one of the Hebrew womei, 
that she may nurse the child for thee ?" She 
was told to go ; and she very soon brought 
the mother of the little boy. Into her hands 
Pharaoh's daughter committed the precious 
trust, saying, " Take this child, and nurse 
it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." 
And the mother took the child away and 
nursed it. Thus, by a series of the most 
wonderful dispensations, this little boy, but a 
few hours before exposed on the waters, amon^ 
the reeds of the Nile, in a simple ark of bul- 
rushes, was rescued from the perils of his 
situation, and committed, by the daughter of 
the king, to the arms of his own mother. It 
is likely, though this we offer merely as a 
conjecture, that the daughter of Pharaoh was 
so struck with the horrible cruelty of her fa- 
ther, that she induced him to repeal the com- 
mand which he had given for the destruction 
of the Hebrew children. This dreadful de- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 25 

cree, we are persuaded, could not have conti- 
nued long in force, as we read, that when the 
Hebrews left Egypt, which was only forty 
years after, there was an immense number of 
children among them. Let all this be as it 
may, one thing is certain — under the protec- 
tion of the king's daughter, this little boy was 
no longer in danger. We are told that he 
grew ; and although it is not recorded how 
old he was, yet probably as soon as he was 
weaned, he was taken by his mother to the 
palace of the king, and there given into the 
hands of his daughter. From that time she 
adopted him ; and he thus, according to the 
custom of the times, became her son,, enjoy- 
ing all the benefits and privileges which would 
have belonged to him if he had actually been 
her own child. In order to commemorate the 
remarkable occurrence of his preservation, she 
called his name Moses, " because," she said, 
" I drew him out of the water ;" the Hebrew 
word for Moses being derived from a verb 
which signifies " to draw out," and which 
word is only used in Scripture in reference 
to the act of drawing out of water. This is 
the first place in the Bible in which the name 
of Moses is mentioned. It is not the first 
time in which it is mentioned in our history, 
for we have frequently called him by that 
name that we might be understood. We shall 
now always use his name, as we continue his 
| wonderful and interesting history. 

C 



26 THE LIFE OF MOSES* 



CHAPTER V. 

The early Education which Moses received 
in the court of Pharaoh. — Moses visits 
his brethren. — Kills an Egyptian — is 
obliged to fly, and goes to the land of 
Midian. 

Moses himself being the writer of the his- 
tory contained in the book of Exodus, does 
not see fit to give any minute account of his own 
learning. He neither tells us the course of 
studies which he pursued, nor the progress 
which he made. All the direct information 
which we can gather from his own account 
is, that he was adopted by the daughter of 
Pharaoh, and brought up as her own son. 
This included, of course, the best education 
which the land of Egypt could afford. But 
though Moses is silent, we have other sources 
of information, which are implicitly to be re- 
lied on ; and this information is to be found 
in the Acts of the Apostles. It happened on 
a certain occasion, that Stephen, one of the 
deacons appointed by the apostles just after 
the outpouring of the spirit on the day of 
Pentecost, was obliged to defend himself be- 
fore the Jewish council, against a slanderous 
charge of blasphemy. In conducting his de- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 27 

fence, which will be found in the 7th chapter 
of the Acts, he went through the history of 
the Israelites, commencing with the call of 
Abraham. When he comes to speak of the 
history of the children of Israel in Egypt, he 
tells us that " Moses was learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in 
words and deeds." 

The learning of the Egyptians principally 
consisted in what we now call astronomy, 
mathematics, arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, 
music, natural history, medicine, chemistry, 
agriculture, and a little of navigation. They 
had another portion of learning, which was 
confined to the priests, and called hiero- 
glyphics, which means a kind of writing by 
figures instead of words. We cannot employ 
our time, however, in these inquiries, even 
though they might be useful, as they would 
keep us too long from our history. 

In every thing which can be connected 
with the learning of the Egyptians, therefore, 
we are authorized by Stephen to say, that 
Moses was instructed, and it was in this way 
that God filled his mind with knowledge, in 
order that he might be qualified to act the 
distinguished part which he had been chosen to 
perform. For all learning is useless, unless 
it can be employed in some way towards the 
promotion of the glory of God, and the good 
of our fellow-creatures. Many learned men 
only use their learning to dishonour God, but 



28 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

terrible will be their destiny. Let us try to 
be wise in all profitable learning, but let us 
glorify God and do good ; and, above all, 
never neglect that which is the only true 
wisdom — the knowledge and the love of 
God. 

The sacred history leaves a long interval 
between the time when Moses was adopted 
by the daughter of Pharaoh, and the period 
when he commenced his more active career. 
This interval can hardly be less than 35 years, 
and during this time he was engaged in bring- 
ing his education to perfection. But it is not 
to be supposed that his time was principally 
occupied in laying up those stores of human 
learning for which the Egyptians were so 
celebrated. There can he no rational ground 
of doubt that he was engaged in making him- 
self fully acquainted with all the particulars 
connected with the religion of his fathers. It 
would be an interesting task, though not ex- 
actly suited to the business of history, to try 
to ascertain the principles of religion as held 
by the patriarchs, and handed down from 
father to son in the traditions of that early 
age. This, however interesting it might be, 
would iead to a discussion far too lengthened 
for a work of this kind ; neither would it be 
appropriate, inasmuch as the sacred history 
does not tell us what, or whether any, ad- 
vances were made by Moses in the knowledge 
of the Jewish religion. All that we feel the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 29 

least authority even to conjecture is, that one 
intended, as Moses was, for so conspicuous 
a part in the history of God's chosen people, 
could not have passed thirty-five years of his 
life without making investigations into the 
nature and peculiarities of that true religion 
which was professed by his parents and his 
people. He was surrounded by a nation of 
idolaters. He lived in an idolatrous court, 
but he himself must have been kept from the 
sin of idolatry, which God always hates, as 
it is direct rebellion against him. Be all these 
things as they may, however, we have no 
sources of authentic information, and we must 
take up the history, content to leave about 
thirty-five years of the life of Moses — a blank 
as to interesting or valuable incidents. 

It came to pass in those days when Moses 
was grown, and when, according to the tes- 
timony of Stephen, he was forty years of age, 
he went from the court of Pharaoh to visit 
his brethren. Whether he had ever done this 
before or not we have no means of information, 
and consequently conjecture is useless. But 
on this occasion he observed with sorrow the 
hard servitude under which his brethren were 
suffering, and it naturally excited his commi- 
seration. Tie might have heard of it before, 
but there is nothing like the sight of human 
misery to awaken the sympathies of our 
hearts. We read of the dreadful and cruel 
superstitions in which the heathen are involved, 
c 2 



30 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

and it produced but a passing emotion of pity, 
and perhaps contempt ; but what a difference 
would be made in our feelings could we be 
placed for a little while where we could see 
these things. Here a woman throwing her- 
self into a fire to be burned with the dead 
body of her husband ; there a mother casting 
her little child into the river Ganges to be 
drowned ; in another place, hundreds throw- 
ing themselves under the huge wheels of an 
idol's chariot, to be crushed to death. Oh, 
how happy are our eyes that we are not 
compelled to see these things ; and happy 
would it be for us if our hearts could ade- 
quately feel for the wretched condition of those 
who are thus sunk in ignorance and spiritual 
death. 

But to return, Moses saw the terrible suf- 
ferings of his people, and his mind was over- 
whelmed. He observed in one place an 
Egyptian beating a Hebrew, with most un- 
merciful severity, and his indignation was 
roused. By a sudden impulse he determined 
to take the part of his oppressed brethren, and 
having looked all round to see that no person 
was near, he slew the Egyptian, and buried 
him in the sand. We should be entirely 
at a loss to account for this transaction, and 
should hardly know in what way to speak of 
it, were we not furnished here also with an 
explanation by Stephen. From what is said in 
the Acts, we gather that the expression in Ex- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 31 

odus, " when he saw that there was no man," 
only means, that there was no other Egyptian 
present or within sight, who could make a re- 
port to the king, for that there were many of 
the Hebrews present there can be little doubt, 
as Stephen tells us, the object which Moses had 
in view in this transaction, was to impress on 
the minds of his brethren, that he was ready to 
undertake to lead them in a revolt against the 
Egyptian power. He did not kill the Egyp- 
tian out of any malice : he appears to have 
done it while defending his Hebrew brother ; 
and wished it to be understood as the signal 
of a revolution. This appears to us not a 
mere conjecture, but directly authorized by the 
language of Scripture ; and lest there should 
be any misunderstanding, we will quote, word 
for word, what Stephen says : — " And when 
he (Moses) was full 40 years old, it came 
into his heart to visit his brethren, the children 
of Israel. • And seeing one of them suffer 
wrong he defended him, and avenged him that 
was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian ; for 
he supposed his brethren would have under- 
stood hoio that God by his hand would de- 
liver them; but they understood not"'' Here 
it unquestionably appears, that Moses intended 
by this transaction to intimate to them, that 
he, under some divine impulse, was ready 
to lead them in throwing off the yoke of 
Egyptian servitude. This w r ill give a most 
satisfactory account of the whole affair. 



32 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

It appears, however, that the Israelites were 
not yet prepared for so decisive a movement. 
Slavery always oppresses the mind as much 
as it does the body, and the people required 
some much more powerful excitement. No 
person being present to witness what Moses 
had done, except his brethren the Israelites, 
who he 'very naturally supposed would not 
inform against him, Moses returned to the 
court of Pharaoh that day without any appre- 
hension. The next day he went again to 
see how it was with his brethren, and on his 
way he found two of the Hebrews fighting ; a 
most distressing occurrence when brethren 
quarrel. Here, as every good man would 
have done, he determined to act the part of a 
mediator, and tried to make them friends 
again. After ascertaining which of the two 
was most to blame, he accosted him, and said, 
44 wherefore dost thou smite thy fellow?" 
It happened to Moses, as it very unfortunately 
happens to those who would try to reconcile 
differences among brethren, that he received 
no thanks for his kindness, but rather insult- 
ing and injurious language. Whenever an 
individual is engaged in a business which 
he cannot justify, and yet feels too proud to 
confess himself wrong, and too much irritated 
to hearken to reason, lie generally adds one 
sin to another. It was the case here. The 
man who was in the wrong, instead of desist- 
ing, and confessing that he was wrong, turned 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 33 

round upon Moses, and said, " Who made 
thee a prince or a judge over us ? Wilt thou 
kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday V 
This was insulting and unkind and ungrateful, 
but when men are in a passion they care not 
what they say or do. 

Moses now became justly alarmed. He was 
persuaded that it would be no longer possible 
to keep the matter a secret, seeing that some 
of his own brethren were ready to turn against 
him, and he prepared to meet the consequences. 
Whether or not he returned to the court of 
Pharaoh, we are not able to say ; nor how long 
it was before the report reached the ears of the 
king. But as soon as Pharaoh heard it, he 
sought to take the life of Moses, for by the laws 
of Egypt, the killing of an Egyptian, whether 
he was bond or free, was punishable by death. 
This however we are not to consider the real 
reason, why king Pharaoh was determined to 
kill Moses. He was afraid that he might put 
himself at the head of the people of Israel, 
and thus revolt from his authority and proba- 
bly overthrow his kingdom. Under circum- 
stances of this kind, it was certainly the dic- 
tate of prudence to fly far beyond the reach 
of the power of Pharaoh, and to do this Moses 
thought it best to go into the land of Midian. 
This land of Midian is very different from 
that which is spoken of in many other parts 
of Scripture, under the title of the land of the 
Midianites, which was East of the Dead Sea, 



34 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

and south of Moab. The land of Midian to 
which Moses fled, was a part of Arabia Petrea, 
on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, and 
very near the extreme southern part of the 
Peninsula of Arabia, and close by Mount Si- 
nai. On the map which accompanies this vo- 
lume you will find a city marked Midian, which 
is supposed to be somewhere near the place 
where Moses took up his temporary resi- 
dence. It was a country very thinly inhabited, 
and which, not being- very productive of any 
of the luxuries of life, had very little inter- 
course of any kind with the land of Egypt. 
On these accounts, Moses was sure to be un- 
known, and even if he had been known, the 
king of Egypt had no authority over that 
country. Indeed there was no well established 
government there of any kind, but the inhabi- 
tants were principally like the wandering 
tribes of Arabs, who live there at the present 
day. But besides this, the mind of Moses 
was no doubt directed to this place by the spe- 
cial influence of God, who had great purposes 
to effect, and required a good deal of pre- 
paratory discipline on the part of Moses, 
thoroughly to fit him for his work. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 35 



CHAPTER VI. 

History of Moses in the land of Midian.— 
He assists the daughters of Jethro, and 
marries in that land. 

When Moses thought he had fled far enough 
to be beyond the reach of Pharaoh, he began 
to think more seriously of his forlorn and des- 
titute situation. He was in a strange country, 
without friends and without protection ; and 
besides this, he was without any kind of know- 
ledge as to the means of providing himself 
with a home, and means of support. In this 
condition he chose one of the wisest expe- 
dients which could possibly be thought of, in 
a country like the one in which he wandered. 
" He sat down by a well/' the history tells 
us : Now some of our young readers may ask 
where was the wisdom of this — might he not 
better have followed any path he could find, till 
it led him to some settlement ? No : we will 
show how he acted wisely. 

In thos6 eastern countries, and especially in 
Arabia, where water is very scarce, there are 
large public wells dug, where some spring or 
fountain may have been discovered, and these 
wells are resorted to by the inhabitants for 
many miles around for the purpose of watering 



36 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

their flocks and herds. In the course of his 
wearisome journey, Moses came, or rather 
the Lord directed him to one of these wells ; 
and he thought, now I will wait here till 
somebody comes ; for then, at all -events, I shall 
obtain information : and so putting his trust in 
God, he at once sat down by the well, know- 
ing that it could not be long before some one 
would be there. Thus it is that God leads 
his people, and makes all things work together 
for their good. The little circumstance of 
Moses sitting down by this well, was con- 
nected with some of the most important con- 
cerns of his eventful life ; so true it is, that in 
the hand of God the smallest events are con- 
nected with the most stupendous purposes. 

In the providence of God, matters turned 
out just as Moses expected ; for in a very short 
time, he saw a large flock of sheep coming 
to the well, under the care of seven young 
women, whom he afterwards found to be the 
daughters of Jethro, the Priest, or Prince of 
Midian, for the Hebrew word sometimes 
means either. Who or what this Jethro was, 
is not easy for us to determine. All we 
know with certainty is, that he was a descen- 
dant of Abraham ; for Midian, from whom 
this part of the country took its name, was a 
son of Abraham ; by his second wife Keturah, 
whom he married after the death of Sarah. 
This is told us in the 2d verse of the 25th 
chapter of Genesis. At the city called Mi- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 37 

dian there is a well which, even down to this 
day, the Mahometans say, is the well at which 
Moses saw the daughters of Jethro. All this, 
however, is doubtful. Nothing is said in 
Scripture to enable us to identify the place. 

We have said that while Moses was sitting 
at this well, the daughters of Jethro came 
with the flocks of their father ; and it seems 
quite strange to us, in these days, to hear of 
the daughters of a prince engaged in such an 
occupation. But we must remember that so 
far back as 3350 years ago, when this trans- 
action occurred, the habits of people were very 
different from what they now are. Then even 
the daughters of the greatest persons did not 
think it beneath their dignity to be engaged 
in domestic occupations. To this very day, 
the daughters of some of the greatest Arabian 
chiefs attend the flocks of their fathers ; and 
the heathen poet, Homer, tells us, that the 
seven children of the king of Thebes, one of 
the chief cities of ancient Greece, did the 
same thing, and so did Antiphus, the son of 
Priam, king of Troy ; and so did Anchises, 
the father of Virgil's hero, iEneas. So that 
we well know the custom of those times, and 
need not be surprised at the transaction which 
is here related. 

While the daughters of Jethro were pre- 
paring to have their flocks watered, a circum- 
stance occurred, which gave Moses an excel- 
lent opportunity both of doing a kind action, 
D 



38 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

and of getting particularly acquainted. Some 
of the neighbouring shepherds came to water 
their flocks at the same well, and as they did 
not choose to remain till the flocks of Jethro 
were watered, they drove them away, and 
were about to help themselves, and thus make 
the others wait. This, as might naturally be 
expected, excited the displeasure of Moses, 
and he very properly interfered to prevent the 
helpless females from being imposed upon in 
this way. The shepherds appear to have been 
intimidated by Moses, or perhaps they became 
ashamed of their uncivil treatment, and stood 
off for awhile. But Moses was not satisfied 
with merely taking the part of these young 
women ; he added his own assistance in their 
work ; he helped them, and watered their flock ; 
and by this means they were able to get their 
flocks home much earlier ihan usual. This 
attracted the particular attention of their father ; 
and he asked them how they came to get home 
so early. They told him the case, just as it oc- 
curred, except that they made a mistake about 
the character of Moses. They supposed he 
was an Egyptian, as he probably had an 
Egyptian dress on. 

When Jethro heard the account, he appears 
to be surprised that they had been so thought- 
less as not to invite him to their father's 
house ; for in those days, when there were 
no places of public entertainment, such as our 
stagehouses and hotels, &c, strangers were 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 39 

always welcome to the hospitality of any fa- 
mily where they might feel disposed to stop. 
It would be. an act of great imprudence for 
young ladies to invite to their homes every 
stranger who might render them any oc- 
casional attention or assistance, because by 
this means many improper persons might get 
into a family. The state of society is very 
different now from what it was then. At 
that time when manners ivere more pure and 
simple, and when hospitality was more abso- 
lutely necessary, there would have been no 
impropriety in their inviting Moses to their 
father's house. But, very strangely, they 
had forgotten it ; and Jethro certainly seems 
to have given them a gentle rebuke for their 
want of gratitude and consideration. He 
says, " Where is he ? Why is it that ye 
have left the man?" And then, without wait- 
ing for any of their excuses, he added, " Call 
him, that he may eat bread." 

Moses, as might reasonably be expected, 
appears very gladly to have accepted the in- 
vitation ; and being a stranger and destitute, 
and having no definite object in view, except 
to keep out of the way of Pharaoh, he made 
up his mind to accept the offer of Jethro, to 
remain with him, probably with an intention 
of rendering him assistance in his various em- 
ployments. 

How long Moses lived with Jethro it is 
not easy to say with any great precision. 






40 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

The probability is, however, that it was 
somewhere about 40 years, for he does not 
appear to have returned to Egypt, until he 
was 80 years of age. In the meantime the 
prince of Midian being satisfied with Moses, 
and conceiving a great friendship for him, 
gave him one of his daughters as a wife, and 
thus brought him into his own family by the 
most sacred and endearing ties. How long 
Moses had been with Jethro before he was 
married is a question which Scripture leaves 
undecided, and which, of course, is a matter 
of no kind of consequence to us. Suffice it 
to say, that the daughter of Jethro whom he 
married, was Zipporah, and eventually they 
had two children ; one of them Moses called 
Gershom, which means a desolate stranger, 
and the other he called Eliezer, which means, 
God my help. 

As Jethro was a descendant of Abraham, 
the probability is, that he was in possession 
of the true religion, and in the slight history 
which is given of his family, there is nothing 
to shake this opinion. If they were truly 
pious, as well as possessing a knowledge of 
true religion, then must the days of Moses 
have passed quickly and happily along. In 
those early ages there was nothing more cal- 
culated to excite and keep alive pious sensi- 
bilities than the pastoral life : having few 
alterations of condition, and constant though 
not laborious occupation, time glided onward 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 41 

in a smootn and even current, with few temp- 
tations, and few strong enticements to great 
transgressions. How often is our blessed 
Lord in the Scriptures addressed under the 
characteristic and tender appellation of a 
shepherd. " Tell me, O thou wham my soul 
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makes t 
thy flock to rest at noon. For why should I 
be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy 
companions?" Our Lord calls himself the 
Good Shepherd ; and He is not only so be- 
cause he leads his people into green pastures 
and beside the still waters, but because he 
even laid down his life for the sheep that they 
might be rescued out of the hand of the de- 
stroyer. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Moses in the land of Midian. — God calls to 
him out of the burning bush. — Orders him. 
to return to Egypt. — His reluctance.— 
God's co?idescensio?i. — Final acquiescence 

of Moses. 

While Moses remained in the land of Mi- 
dian, in the quiet pursuits of the pastoral life, 
and no doubt improving the leisure which lie 
enjoyed to his advancement in personal piety, 
the people of Israel were still suffering under 
d 2 



42 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the rigour of their cruel master. The king", 
under whose reign Moses was born, and from 
whose wrath he fled, died during the period 
in which he sojourned in Midian. But this 
king was succeeded by another, who, from 
the incidental intimations of the sacred his- 
tory, we should suppose was equally if not 
more cruel than the last ; for it is told us, 
that now " the children of Israel sighed by 
reason of their bondage." Its severity and 
its long duration had discouraged and dis- 
heartened them, but it produced one effect, 
which, in the ways of God, seems to be most 
generally connected with a change of circum- 
stances for the better. Their heavy affliction 
led them to apply to God for relief; and 
when afflictions of any kind serve to cut up 
by the root all earthly dependencies, and con- 
strain the soul to flee to God, and to him 
alone, then they appear to answer the purpose 
for which they were intended, and brighter 
days may reasonably be expected. The peo- 
ple cried unto the Lord, and God heard their 
cry : he bore in remembrance the promise 
which he had made to Abraham, to Isaac, and 
to Jacob ; for he never forgets his word. The 
time appointed to fulfil this promise had now 
arrived ; and we will now point out the method 
in Avhich God saw fit that Moses should be 
connected with it. 

At the time in which the bondage of the 
children of Israel had reached its height 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 43 

Moses had been a resident in Midian, it is 
supposed, about 40 years. His principal oc- 
cupation had no doubt been to tend the flocks 
while they were out at pasture. On one of 
these occasions he had driven the flocks, for 
the advantage of better pasturage, as far as 
the mountain which is called Horeb, spoken of 
as the Mount of God ; probably because God 
afterwards gave the Law from a part of the 
same range which had the name of Sinai. 
While he was employed in watching the 
sheep, as they fed on the green grass, or as 
they gamboled on the gentle slopes of the 
mountains ; and while he, no doubt, occupied 
his mind in meditation on the ways and the 
works of God, his attention was directed to a 
circumstance most singularly mysterious. All 
at once a bush, which was a little on one side 
of the place where he was sitting, appeared 
on fire — it actually burned ; but, as it burned, 
not one leaf was withered, and not one little 
twig was destroyed. For the moment he does 
not appear to have understood it as any thing 
intended to attract his attention to any special 
revelation. It struck him with very great 
surprise ; and he says, " I will now turn 
aside, and see this great sight, why the bush 
is not burnt." While he was engaged in 
the contemplation of this mysterious sight, 
and was advancing nearer and nearer for the 
purpose of investigating this singular pheno- 
menon, he was arrested by a voice from the 



44 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 




midst of the bush, which called him by his 
name, and directed him to take off the shoes, 
or rather sandals, which were on his feet, be- 
cause the place was hallowed or holy by the 
presence of God. Moses must have been 
astonished at the vision and the voice ; how 
much more so when he discovered who it 
was that spoke to him. The person speaking 
to Moses on this solemn occasion is called, in 
the second verse of the third chapter of Ex- 
odus, the " Angel of the Lord ;" and yet this 
very same one called the Angel, could not have 
been any created being, for in the sixth verse 
of the same chapter, he tells Moses who he 
is, " / am the God of thy father, the God of 
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 45 

Jacob:" and then the history tells us, that 
Moses " hid his face, for he was afraid to look 
upon God." And in. the 14th verse of the 
same chapter, where Moses asks God what 
he shall tell the people, God answers him 
in these striking terms, "I am that I am, 
and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the 
children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto 
you." In these things our readers are re- 
quested to observe one most remarkable par- 
ticular, which is, that the Angel takes the 
name of God, and consequently he could not 
have been one of those beings whom we call 
Angels, and who are described by the apostle 
Paul, as " ministering spirits sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salva- 
tion." This Angel who appeared to Moses 
must have been infinitely higher than any 
created Angel, and could not have been any 
other than that blessed Being who afterwards 
took our nature upon him, and appeared on 
earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ is, by the prophet Ma- 
lachi, called the Messenger, or Angel of the 
Covenant. This was the same person who 
afterwards appeared on Mount Sinai, and de- 
livered the Law to Moses. This is the same 
person who, on various occasions, had appeared 
to the ancient patriarchs in a visible form, pro- 
phetic of his future incarnation. Respecting 
God the father, it is said in John, i. 18. 
" No man hath seen God at any time." And 



46 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

again, in ch. v. 37, " Ye have neither heard 
his* voice at any time, nor seen his shape." 
The Angel, then, who here appeared to Mo- 
ses, who afterwards conducted the children of 
Israel through the wilderness ; who gave the 
Law from Mount Sinai, and who was the 
king of Israel, was no other than him who 
" being in the form of God, took upon him 
the form of a servant." It is also worthy 
of remark, that the same Angel says, when 
asked his name, " I am that I am," and this 
is the very term which our Saviour uses of 
himself in his conversations with the Jews, 
as recorded in John, viii. 58. " Before Abra- 
ham was I AM." 

After this solemn announcement of himself 
as God, the Lord proceeds to tell Moses the 
reasons why he had made himself known to 
him. He stated that he had seen with ten- 
derness and compassion the wretched situation 
to which the Israelites were reduced by reason 
of the severity of the bondage under which 
they suffered, and he calls them " my peo- 
ple ;" for, notwithstanding their ignorance, 
their degradation, and their wickedness, they 
were the children of Abraham, of Isaac, and 
of Jacob, to whom he had promised his bless- 
ing, and he was determined to do them good 
for the sake of their fathers. Yet He did not 
bring this good upon them till he saw they 
were humbled under their sufferings, and cried 
unto him for help. It is thus that God deals 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 47 

with sinners. He will do them good for 
Jesus' sake, who died upon the cross as an 
atonement for sin ; but never will he receive 
them to his love until they repent of their 
sins, and lay hold of the hope of the gospel. 
But to return to Moses. God declared to 
him, that the time was come when He in- 
tended to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, 
and bring them into the lovely land of Ca- 
naan — the land then possessed by people 
called the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amo- 
rites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Je- 
busites ; and he tells Moses that He was the 
person who was to act as his agent and mi- 
nister in this great and glorious enterprise. 
Moses at once declined the appointment, as 
if he doubted his qualifications : " Who am 
I that I should go ? " Remark heie the great 
contrast which 40 years' experience had made 
in the mind of Moses. He had once, thought 
that he was qualified for this work, and he 
set about it, with considerable zeal, by killing 
an Egyptian, but now when he was incom- 
parably better qualified, he became more alive 
to his insufficiency. " This was in a great 
measure the effect of increasing knowledge 
of God and of himself, but there was also a 
deep sense of the vast difficulty of the busi- 
ness, not without some culpable fear of Pha- 
raoh and the Egyptians, and of contempt and 
opposition from Israel. Before, self-confidence 
mingled with and assumed the appearance of 



48 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

strong faith and great zeal ; but now some 
degree of sinful distrust of God was associ- 
ated with deep humility, and induced him 
timidly to shift, as well as humbly to decline, 
the important service. So very defective are 
the strongest graces, and the best duties even 
of the most eminent saints." In relation to 
any service to be rendered to the cause of 
God, any man may reasonably ask, " Who 
is sufficient for these things?" but the an- 
swer of the gospel is ready : — " My grace is 
sufficient for thee." So it was in the case of 
Moses. No sooner had he said, " Who am 
7, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I 
should bring the children of Israel out of 
Egypt?" than God is ready with the en- 
couraging answer, " Certainly I will be with 
thee." As if He had said, I am not going to 
send you on so difficult a business, and then 
leave you to yourself. No : I know all the 
obstacles. I know without me you can do 
nothing. What I send you to do, I will en- 
able you to do : fear not. It was a similar 
promise of their blessed Master whieh gave 
the Apostles their holy and heavenly confi- 
dence. Matt, xxviii. 18 — 20. "And Jesus 
came and spake unto them, saying, All power 
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go 
ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 49 

manded you : and, lo, I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world. Amen." 

After God had thus graciously encouraged 
Moses, he gave him a sign or token, by telling 
him, that when all these things happened, he 
should serve God or worship him on that 
very mountain. This was a test of the faith 
of Moses. God says, when you have suc- 
ceeded in bringing Israel out of Egypt through 
my power, you shall know that I have given 
you the commission, by coming to this very 
place where we now are. Moses believed 
God, and was encouraged. Still, while he 
was in Egypt, he had seen and known so 
much of the ingratitude of the Israelites, that 
he expressed his fears to God that they would 
not receive him — that they might probably 
ask him again, who had made him a ruler or 
judge over them; and he therefore humbly 
asks of God to permit him to know what he 
should say to them ; and that if they asked 
him who sent him, he might have some an- 
swer to give. God here, also, most graciously 
condescends to give him the most full and 
satisfactory information. " And God said 
unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he 
said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children 
of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Ex. 
iii. 14. And lest that should not be sufficient, 
he furnishes him with an answer which the 
people could more distinctly understand. 
"And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus 
E 



50 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The 
Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abra- 
ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Ja- 
cob, hath sent me unto you : this is my name 
for ever, and this is my memorial unto all 
generations." ver. 15. God then tells him to 
enter into an explanation of what had now 
occurred, and to place before them the pro- 
mises previously made : — " Go, and gather 
the elders of Israel together, and say unto 
them, The Lord God of your fathers, the 
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, ap- 
peared unto me, saying, I have surely visited 
you, and seen that which is done to you in 
Egypt: And I have said, I will bring you 
up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land 
of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the 
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, 
and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with 
milk and honey." ver. 16, 17. 

We cannot pass on to other particulars of 
this interesting history, without asking the 
very solemn attention of our readers to a 
few remarks of the pious Bishop Beveridge on 
the expression " I am. To the mind of a 
Christian the extract will convey the most 
lively feelings of gratification, and it may 
touch the hearts of others." " When God 
speaks of himself," says our Author, " and 
his own eternal Essence, he saith, / am that 
I am, so when he speaks of himself in refer- 
ence to his creatures, and especially his peo- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 51 

pie, he says I am. He doth not say, I am their 
friend, their father, their protector. He doth 
not say, lam their light, their life, their guide, 
their strength, their tower; but only / am. 
He sets as it were his hand to a blank, that his 
people may write under it what they please 
that is good for them. As if he should say, 
Are they weak ? I am strength. Are they 
poor? I am riches. Are they in trouble? 
I am comfort. Are they sick ? I am health. 
Are they dying? I am life. Have they no- 
thing ? I am all things. I am wisdom and 
power, I am justice and mercy, I am grace 
and goodness ; I am glory, beauty, holiness, 
eminency, super eminency, perfection, all-suf- 
ficiency, eternity. Jehovah I am. Whatso- 
ever is amiable in itself, or desirable unto them, 
that I am. Whatsoever is pure and holy, what- 
soever is great or pleasant, whatsoever is good 
or needful to make men happy, that I am. So 
that, in short, God here represents himself 
unto us as an universal good, and leaves us to 
make the application of it to ourselves, ac- 
cording to our several wants, capacities, and 
desires, by saying only in general, I am." 

But now to return to the history. God 
graciously condescended to assure Moses, 
that his countrymen would listen to his voice, 
and ordered him, in company with the elders 
of Israel — the more aged and distinguished 
men among their tribes, to go and present 
himself before the king of Egypt, and to dev 



52 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

mand, in the name of his God, permission to 
go three clays' journey into the wilderness, in 
order that they might, without any hindrance 
or molestation, make a solemn sacrifice to the 
God of their fathers. At the same time, 
however, God who reads the hearts of men, 
and knows what their determinations will be, 
informed Moses that Pharaoh would not by 
any means grant their request. It may at 
once, then, be asked, if God knew what 
Pharaoh would do, why did he send Moses 
on a fruitless errand. Every difficulty of this 
kind arises out of a defective view of God's 
moral government. Does a master lose 
his right to give a command, because he may 
be persuaded that his servant will refuse 
to obey ? Does a father forfeit his right to 
obedience, because a child may choose to 
be rebellious ? If I knew perfectly well from 
the perverse and stubborn nature of a child 
that he would not obey my commands, 
ought I to withhold a command which was 
connected with his welfare ? Certainly not. 
The honour of God was concerned that, 
whether Pharaoh would or would not obey, 
he should give the command, and thus 
show his right to be obeyed, and take away 
all shadow of excuse which might otherwise 
be made. Besides this, God purposed to visit 
the land of Egypt, for the abominations of 
the people, and for their iniquitous treatment 
of the Israelites ; and in order to show that 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 53 

his punishment would be just, he saw fit to 
make a direct* demand upon the king. Lest 
Moses should be discouraged by being told 
that the king would not let the people go 
when he was so solemnly required, God fur- 
ther informed him, that after he had punish- 
ed the Egyptians according as he saw fit, 
then the king would eventually comply with 
the demand. He informed him further, that 
he would make the Egyptians so desirous of 
the departure of the Israelites, that they would 
be willing to do any thing, and give any thing 
to hasten that departure. We shall soon see 
that all this took place as was predicted ; but 
before we come to the tremendous scenes 
which occurred as preparatory to that result, 
there is a circumstance which requires some 
explanation. 

We are told, that God ordered every 
woman to borrow jof her neighbour jewels 
of silver, and jewels of gold, and also cloth- 
ing, and thus to spoil the Egyptians. In- 
fidel writers have improperly made a great 
handle of this circumstance, and have said, 
that here is a direct command to be thieves. 
As we use the word " to borrow" in our 
language, it means to ask the loan of some- 
thing which we intend to return, and if 
we do not return it, it is just as bad as 
stealing. But it ought to be remembered, 
that the Bible was written in Hebrew, and 
that the Hebrew word which is translated 
e 2 



54 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

borrow, only signifies to ask* All that the 
Israelites, therefore, did, was to ask or de- 
mand of the Egyptians such things as they 
needed or might need in their journey ; and 
what they received was justly due them as an 
equivalent for the long and painful services 
which they had rendered. 

There is one thing very remarkable in this 
history of Moses, as written by himself. He 
does not pretend to hide or excuse his own 
follies, and his wicked opposition to the de- 
clared wishes of God. We see another in- 
stance of his perverseness immediately after 
God had given him these directions, and not- 
withstanding that he had been distinctly told 
that the people would hearken unto his voice, 
he persists in doubting it, and had the teme- 
rity to answer God, and say, " But, behold, 
they will not believe me, nor hearken unto 
my voice, for they will say, the Lord hath 
not appeared unto thee." This, somewhat 
like the incredulity of Thomas, recorded 
John xx. 25, appears to have been permitted, 
that such abundant evidences might be given 
as could leave no room for any reasonable 
doubt on the part of the people. Moses at 
that time had a rod or star! in his hand : it 
was most probable a shepherd's crook. God 
saw fit to work a miracle, to show him that 
he would be received as the leader of the 
people. He told him to throw down the 
stick which he held, and no sooner did he 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 55 

do it, than it was instantly, by the power of 
God, turned into a serpent, and Moses alarmed 
at the sight sought to run away. But God 
called him back, and ordered him, instead of 
being afraid, to take it by the tail. No sooner 
did he obey, than the serpent became what it 
was before, a rod in his hand. But this was 
not the only miracle by which God conde- 
scended to assure him that he should be suc- 
cessful. He told him to put his hand into 
his bosom, and on taking it out it was covered 
with leprosy, and became white as snow ; and 
this while the rest of his body was perfectly 
sound. God again told him to put his hand 
into his bosom, and when he took it out it 
was perfectly well as it was at the first. God 
then told him that if the people would not be 
convinced by his performing the first miracle, 
that of turning the rod into a serpent, they 
would be convinced by the other ; and that 
if the least scruple existed among them after 
these two miracles had been done before their 
eyes, he was to take -water out of the river, 
and to pour it on the earth, when it would be 
turned into blood. All this was done, as we 
shall hereafter see. 

But still Moses had another excuse. When 
every thing else failed, he told the Lord that he 
was not eloquent, he was not a good speaker, 
that ha was slow of speech, probably he had 
some hesitation in his speech, something akin 
to stammering. The gracious God, instead 



56 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

of casting him off as utterly worthless, chose 
to put to him these interesting questions :— 
" And the Lord said unto him, Who hath 
made man's mouth ? or who maketh the 
dumb* or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? 
have not I the Lord?" ch. iv. 11 : and then 
tells him positively — " Now therefore go, 
and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee 
what thou shalt say." ver. 12. 

God having thus answered all the objections 
which Moses had made, and cut short all his 
excuses, it would be thought that no further 
difficulty could have been made. But all the 
objections of Moses, and all his excuses, had 
been, just as the objections and excuses of 
sinners now are when urged to repentance, 
only intended to hide the real unwillingness 
of his heart ; and so, when he found that they 
would not answer, he came out with the real 
state of his mind, and intimated to the Lord, 
that he did not want to go. He probably felt 
himself so comfortable where he was, and he 
had lived peaceably so long, that he did not 
like the danger of the task, and now he de- 
clines the honour. It is a wonder that he 
was not struck dead for his presumption ; but 
God had great designs to answer, and though 
he declares that his anger was kindled against 
him for his unbelief and unwillingness, he did 
not see fit to dismiss him. He took this last 
excuse away, by telling him that his elder 
brother, Aaron, who was a good speaker, and 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 57 

had no defect of utterance, should go with 
him ; that Aaron should speak to the people, 
and that he should give the necessary instruc- 
tions. God then told him to take the rod, 
and go; and Moses made no more excuses. 
He saw his error: he repented. He was 
faithful and zealous, and God was thenceforth 
his guide and his counsellor, and the power 
of his hand. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Moses dqmrtsfrom Midian. — Takes his fa- 
mily into Egypt. — Is instructed as to Ms 
special message to Pharaoh. — Goes to Pha- 
raoh, who refuses to obey God's message. 
— Considerations connected with the hard- 
ening of Pharaoh 's heart. 

We have seen in the preceding chapter the 
condescension of God in removing the diffi- 
culties out of the way of Moses, and in ena- 
bling him to come to a clear determination to 
be submissive to the will of his heavenly 
Father. No sooner had he come to this de- 
termination than he carried it into effect. He 
went immediately to his father-in-law, and 
stated the case to him, requesting his permis- 



58 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

sion to leave the place where he had so hap- 
pily passed his days, and go to do the will 
of the Lord. Jethro made no objections ; and 
God, further to encourage Moses, informed 
him that those persons who had sought his 
life while in Egypt were now dead. Moses 
on his return took his family with him— his 
wife and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. 
How long he was in accomplishing the jour- 
ney, we do not know ; but it must have been 
two or three days, as they travelled very slow 
in those times, when journeys were princi- 
pally performed on foot. All the while, how- 
ever, God was mindful of Moses, and sent 
his brother Aaron out into the wilderness to 
meet him. Their separation had been long, 
and their meeting was affectionate. Accord- 
ing to the custom of those times they kissed 
each other. As they then went along to- 
gether towards Egypt, Moses told Aaron all 
that had occurred ; and when they reached 
the territory of Goshen, they assembled the 
elders of the children of Israel, told them 
publicly all that the Lord had directed, and 
performed the miracles which had been ap- 
pointed. According to the word of. God, 
which never fails, the people believed that 
Moses had been sent to them with a special 
commission ; and they were so encouraged 
and animated by the prospect of deliverance, 
that they returned their thanks to God in a. 
solemn act of worship. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 59 

We now come to a period in the history 
of Moses, which is particularly remarkable 
for ijts connexion with the punishments which 
God inflicted on the Egyptians. In a very 
short time after Moses had satisfied the people 
of Israel, that he was sent from God to effect 
their deliverance, he prepared to carry his 
message to the proud and cruel king of Egypt. 
He took his brother Aaron with him, and 
went to the king's palace ; and, as soon as 
they were admitted into the royal presence, 
they delivered their message in the following 
plain and simple language : — " Thus saith the 
Lord, Let my people go, that they may hold 
a feast unto rne in the wilderness." This 
was a very modest and moderate demand, 
even if it had not been authorized by God 
himself; for as the people had been serving 
the king of Egypt for no less than 80 years 
at least, in the most abject servitude, it was 
but little to ask a few days for the service of 
their God. But as they wished to hold a 
feast, why did they not ask permission to do 
it in Egypt ? The reason is very clear : their 
feast must be accompanied with sacrifices to 
God, and as these sacrifices were of such ani- 
mals as the Egyptians worshipped, it would 
not have been judicious nor safe to hold their 
feast in Egypt, lest the people should have 
been provoked to injure them. 

This demand, however reasonable as it 
was in itself, and still more important because 



60 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

it was authorized by the great God, seemed 
to produce no effect on the mincl of Pharaoh, 
except to make him angry. He had done 
wrong in reducing the people to slavery, and 
he then determines to do more wrong in order 
to justify his former conduct, just as most 
persons when they commit one sin will prefer 
committing several others to keep themselves 
in countenance, rather than at once confess 
their fault and repent. Pharaoh insolently 
and presumptuously replied, " Who is Jeho- 
vah ; I know him not, neither will I let Israel 
go." Instead of denouncing the vengeance 
of God against this unjust king, Moses and 
Aaron plead with him for his permission. 
They told him, that the Lord, their God, re- 
quired of them that they should go, and that 
if they did not, they should but excite his 
anger. They therefore begged of Pharaoh 
that he would let them go. Instead of yield- 
ing, however, the king grew more and more 
angry, and said, " Wherefore do ye, Moses 
and Aaron, let (that is, hinder) the people 
from doing their work. Get you to your 
burdens." The anger of Pharaoh led him 
into greater acts of injustice. The very day 
when he treated the message of God by Moses 
so disrespectfully and proudly, he ordered the 
burdens of the people to be increased. They 
were commanded to make bricks without the 
usual supply of straw. The straw was needed 
in the manufacture of the bricks, to chop in 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 61 

fine pieces to mix with clay, or for some other 
purpose, and had been delivered to them as 
it was needed ; but now the supply was with- 
held, and they were required to get it as they 
could. They found it impossible, of course, 
to do as much work as usual, because they 
had to go into the fields and gather stubble 
instead of straw, and then the officers of the 
children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's task-mas- 
ters had set over them, were beaten because 
the same quantity of work was not done. 
And when they appealed to the king, they 
were turned away without any redress, but 
with the insulting language, " Ye are idle ; 
ye are idle, therefore ye say, let us go and 
sacrifice to the Lord." 

This was a very trying time to Moses, for 
besides the ill-treatment which he had received 
from Pharaoh, he was compelled to suffer 
the reproaches of his own countrymen, just 
as if he had been the cause of the great hard- 
ships which they endured. It so happened, 
that as the officers who had been appointed 
to make their complaint to Pharaoh, were re- 
turning from their unsuccessful errand, they 
met Moses and Aaron, and began at once to 
upbraid them : — " The Lord look upon you 
and judge you ; because you have made us to 
be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the 
eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their 
hand to slay us." This hurt the feelings 
and discouraged the spirit of Moses far more 

F 



62 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

than all the cruelty of Pharaoh; for to be re- 
proached by those whom we love, and are 
trying to serve, is hard to bear. Under these 
circumstances Moses laid the case before the 
Lord, but not in such a spirit of faith as he 
ought to have done, for he seems rather dis- 
posed to sink into despondency, and to com- 
plain that the Lord had not been kind and 
compassionate ; so very difficult is it for even 
good men always to bear their disappointments 
with humility and faith. 

All these things, however, were working 
out the purposes of God for the good of his 
people. Moses was again assured by God 
that every thing should be done which he had 
promised, and sent again to tell the people 
that his promise should not fail. Moses went 
to the people with this encouraging message 
of God, but their spirits were so broken down 
by the cruelty with which they had been 
treated, that they could hardly be induced to 
listen to what he had to say. How strange 
it is, that any one should not be willing to be- 
lieve what God says ; and the very time when 
we ought most to rely on the promises of 
God, is when affliction comes upon us, for 
what can enable us to bear it, but a trust in 
God? 

This part of the history of Moses, as indeed 
almost every other, illustrates the wonderful 
long-suffering and patience of God. Moses 
was again discouraged by the fact, that the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 63 

Israelites seemed to have lost all hope, and 
he instead of cheerfully obeying God, begins 
again to excuse himself, and when God tells 
him to go to Pharaoh again, he says, My 
own people will not listen to me, and how am 
I to expect Pharaoh to listen ? And, besides, 
I have no ability to plead the cause properly ; 
I am not a good speaker. Now all this was 
mere excuse ; but God even then did not forsake 
his people. He told Moses again that Aaron 
should be the speaker, and after this Moses 
never seems to have made any further opposi- 
tion to the will of God. The sacred History 
tells us, that at this period Moses was eighty 
years of age, and Aaron three years older. 

But by far the most remarkable thing in the 
history of Moses at this time, and one which 
has caused many persons a great deal of per- 
plexity is, that when God ordered Moses to go 
with the message to Pharaoh, he told him once 
and again that He would harden Pharaoh's 
heart, and he would not let the people go. It 
may be, and has often been asked, if God hard- 
ened the heart of Pharaoh how could he help 
doing what he did ? All the difficulty lies in the 
meaning which we are apt to give to the word 
harden, as if it could be supposed that God 
could put evil desires and determinations into 
the heart of any one. We must get rid of 
this notion first, and then there will be no 
difficulty. All our readers have no doubt 
read what God says by the apostle James :— - 



64 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

" God cannot be tempted with evil ;" that is, 
God can never be tempted to do any thing 
wrong, for He is infinitely pure and holy; 
but the apostle says, " Neither tempteth He 
any man ;" that is, he never puts wicked 
thoughts into the hearts of any. But then 
what does this hardening of the heart mean ? 
The difficulty can now be explained in two 
ways. 1st Solomon tells us, that because 
sentence against an evil work is not executed 
speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of 
men is fully set in them to do evil. Eccles. viii. 
11. This was the case with Pharaoh; for 
we are told that " when he saw there was 
respite, he hardened his heart as the Lord had 
said." Exod. viii. 15. This means, that the 
goodness of God, in not executing judgment 
upon him at once for his rebellion, instead 
of softening his heart, and leading him to re- 
pentance as it ought to have done, produced 
in him a contrary effect, because he was fully 
set in his own mind to do evil, and became 
more and more determined so to do, when 
he saw that he could, as he supposed, escape. 
We see this every day ; for who does not ob- 
serve persons under the afflictions of God's 
hand, becoming more and more wicked instead 
of better, and we know that fire, which softens 
some substances, hardens others. Thus Pha- 
roah, in fact, hardened his own heart. 

But there is another way in which God is 
said to harden the hearts of those who abuse 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 65 

his mercies. He withdraws his spirit from 
them as a punishment of their sins, and then 
they are sure to grow worse and worse ; for 
nothing can keep any one from the most 
dreadful sins but the restraining grace of God. 
When God then becomes so much displeased, 
as to determine to leave sinners to do as they 
wish, then he is said to harden their hearts. 
Now, as Ave do not intend to allude to this 
subject again, we will take the occasion to 
give some friendly advice to our readers, 
founded on this dreadful thing which happened 
to wicked Pharaoh. 

The case of Pharaoh, left by the spirit of 
God to work out his own ruin, ought to teach 
us all to beware how we harden our hearts 
against convictions of sin. No persons ever 
resisted the gracious pleadings of the spirit of 
God and eventually escaped. We have the 
instances of the inhabitants of Sodom and Go- 
morrah. We have the case of Pharaoh, and 
the case of Felix. It is written, "My spirit 
shall not always strive with man;" and if the 
spirit ceases to strive, then the heart of that 
person is surely hardened. Let this history 
teach us the importance of immediately ac- 
cepting the kind offers of God through his 
son, Jesus Christ. We remember a very in- 
teresting anecdote of the ancient Romans : — 
A Roman embassador once demanded of king 
Antiochus to withdraw his armies from the 
siege of a city which was in friendship with 
F 2 



66 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the Romans. " What time," said the king*, 
" do you allow me to consider whether I shall 
accept or refuse your demands ? " " Your 
resolution must be taken before you stir be- 
yond the limits of this circle," said the Roman, 
at the same time drawing a circle round the 
king. " Before you step over this, you must 
declare whether you will be the friend or 
the enemy of Rome." Such a circle God 
draws round every one. This hour, this very 
hour, are you called upon to give you hearts 
to God. You do not know but that at this 
moment he may be making the last offer of 
his love. You do not know but if you now 
reject it, your heart maybe hardened, and 
then nothing but ruin can come. " Behold, 
now is the accepted time and the day of sal- 
vation." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Moses, by the command of God, works mi- 
racles, and brings upon Egypt dreadful 
plagues* 

There cannot be one among the readers 
of this history, we think, who is not acquaint- 
ed with what the Scripture tells us about the 
interviews which Moses and Aaron had with 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 67 

Pharaoh, after the transactions which are 
mentioned in the last chapter. According to 
the last command of God on the subject, 
Moses no more hesitated to go to the king, 
and tell him what the Lord would do if he 
persisted in refusing to let the people go ; and 
in order to convince him that he was sent of 
God, when Pharaoh said, Show a miracle, 
that I may know something about your pre- 
tensions, Aaron threw down his rod on the 
ground, and in a moment it became a serpent. 
Surprising as this was, however, Pharaoh 
supposed it was only some trick, similar to 
what some of his own magicians or wise men 
could play, and so he sent for them, and when 
they came they cast their rods on the ground 
and they also became serpents. This still 
more convinced Pharaoh that Moses and Aaron 
were little better than expert jugglers, for his 
darkened mind did not understand that for the 
purpose of showing the greatness of his own 
power, God for a little while permitted the 
Egyptian magicians to imitate the miracles of 
Moses. Moses, himself, must at the moment 
have been very much surprised to see it ; but 
by this time he had learned to put implicit 
faith in God, and to know that it was all in- 
tended for some wise purpose. He did not 
long remain in this state of perplexity, for the 
serpents which the Egyptian magicians pro- 
duced were immediately swallowed up by the 
serpent formed by the power of God from the 



68 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

rod of Moses. Several miracles were per- 
formed by the Egyptian magicians ; but they 
were all intended the more signally to con- 
firm the power of the true God, and establish 
the divine commission of Moses. After two 
attempts in which the magicians were per- 
mitted to succeed, they made a third, but 
God saw fit to stop them, and then they con- 
fessed that it was the power of God. Still 
Pharaoh was deaf to the entreaties of Moses, 
and, like all hardened sinners, he seemed bent 
on his own destruction. 

In the whole history of the world, there is 
scarcely a more awful account than that of 
the ten plagues which God sent on the land 
of Egypt. And yet how many persons read 
the history without noticing the real and pe- 
culiar meaning of those plagues. We have 
no doubt that we shall convey some new and 
interesting ideas to the minds of our young 
readers at least, while we very briefly go on 
to show what God meant by the peculiar form 
in which these plagues were sent. 

Of all the nations on the face of the earth, 
the Egyptians, for a people who were really 
wise in a great many things, were the most 
stupid and senseless idolaters. There was 
scarcely any thing that flew in the air, or crawl- 
ed on the earth, or swam in the river, which 
was not in some way worshipped by them. 
And thus, they neither believed nor worshipped 
the true God ; and they despised and hated 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 69 

the Israelites because they did worship the 
one living and true God. This great God, 
who has declared that he is a jealous God, 
and will not give his glory to another, was 
determined to show that he alone was God, 
and that there was none else, and consequently 
all the plagues which were sent upon Egypt 
as a punishment for their treatment of the 
people of Israel, were made to show that the 
gods of Egypt were of no account. Every 
one of the plagues, except the last, was di- 
rected against the Egyptians through the me- 
dium of their objects of idolatry, and this 
renders a consideration of those plagues more 
important and interesting than it otherwise 
would be. And this is the reason why we 
intend to spend a little time in examining the 
subject. 

The first plague was the turning of the 
waters of the Nile into blood. This celebrated 
river was considered one of the very greatest 
of the Egyptian deities, and all the fish which 
were in it were worshipped as subordinate or 
inferior gods. When their river then was 
turned into blood, and their fish died, it showed 
that these their gods were subject to the 
power of the great Jehovah. 

The second plague was that of frogs, an 
animal to the Egyptians peculiarly loathsome ; 
and this was another evidence of the weakness 
of their god, the Nile, for it could not avoid 
sending forth these loathsome creatures. 



70 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

The third plague was that of lice, which 
came upon every man and beast throughout 
the whole land. This was also a plague 
aimed at the idolatry of Egypt, for no one 
could go near their altars on whom such an 
insect as this was found. The priests, in 
order to avoid impurities of this kind, shaved 
their heads and beards every day, and wore 
only light linen garments. This, therefore, 
was a very severe judgment upon the idolatry 
of Egypt, as no act of their worship could be 
performed while it lasted. The magicians, 
themselves, appear to have been particularly 
struck with this miracle, and confessed that it 
was " the finger of God." 

The fourth plague was that of flies. The 
fly was one of the gods of Egypt, and is here 
made the instrument in the hand of the true 
God of punishing his own senseless wor- 
shippers. 

The fifth plague was the murrain among 
cattle. This was a kind of disease which 
carried them off in great numbers ; . and this 
plague struck at the very root of their idolatry, 
which was the worship of beasts. Under the 
names of Osiris, Isis, Jlmmon, and Pan, 
they worshipped the bull, and the ram, and 
the he goat, and the heifer ; but yet the 
true God, at the word of Moses, sent a 
disease which killed these animals as well as 
others. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES, 



71 




The sixth plague consisted of boils and 
Mains ; and this also struck at their idolatry 
in a very remarkable manner. Perhaps our 
readers will be surprised to hear that in Egypt 
there were several altars on which they sacri- 
ficed human victims to the evil principle, or 
Typhon, br what we would call the devil. So 
that the devil was one of their gods. Now, 
the persons who were required to be offered 
to the Typhon, must be persons of fair com- 
plexion and light hair. As the Egyptians 
were a very dark people, with black hair, it 
is most likely that the human victims which 
were sacrificed were taken from among the 
Israelites, for though they were not what we 
would call persons of fair complexion, yet 



72 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

they were a great deal fairer than the Egyp- 
tians. These victims being burned alive, 
their ashes were gathered together by the 
priest, and thrown up into the air, in order 
that a blessing might go in whatever direction 
the ashes were blown. By the direct on of 
the Almighty, Moses took a handful of the 
ashes of the furnace, probably of the very 
furnace where these victims had been burned, 
and cast it into the air, and so, instead of a 
blessing there came a very heavy curse ; the 
boils and blains, which were terrible sores, 
breaking out on man and beast.* This showed 
that their god, Typhon, could not help his 
worshippers. 



* It should be observed, that this astonishing mira- 
cle was wrought in the sight of Pharaoh, He saw 
for himself that light ashes only were thrown up into 
the air, and that God clothed them with the power to 
inflict disease and anguish upon the body of the wicked 
king, and upon all the people of Egypt. It is thought 
that the ashes came down in the form of dew or rain, 
and by burning heat produced ulcers or blisters upon 
the skin. The disease supposed to be the same with 
the botch of Egypt. Deut. xxviii. 27. 

The furnaces, in the labour of which they oppress- 
ed the Hebrews, now yielded the instruments of their 
punishment ; for every particle of those ashes, formed 
by unjust and oppressive labour, seemed to be a boil 
or a blain on the tyrannic king, and his cruel and 
hard-hearted people. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 73 

The seventh plague was that of lightning 

\ and hail. Like all the others, this was also 

i intended against the idolatry of Egypt, for 

Isis and Osiris were worshipped, the first as 

the god of water, and the other of fire ; and, 

as lightning and hail are exhibitions of fire 

and water, it was clearly seen that the God 

of Israel had them in his control. This plague 

j terrified the Egyptians exceedingly, for we 

must understand that the sky in Egypt is .sel- 

j dom cloudy, and scarcely any rain falls during 

the whole year. 

The eighth plague was that of locusts; 
I and this showed that the Egyptian gods, call- 
ed Isis and Serapis, had no power, for they 
were the gods who were always supposed 
capable of defending the land from locusts. 

The ninth plague was that of darkness. 
Light was also an object of Egyptian worship, 
and in this plague it was found that the God 
of Israel could do with it what he pleased, — 
even withdraw it from Egypt for three whole 
days and nights, so that they could not see 
each other. 

All these nine plagues were against Egyp- 
tian idolatry ; and if we are asked how we 
know that the great God of Israel — the true 
God, intended this by it, we have only to re- 
peat what he says about it himself, in Exod. 
xii. 12 :— " Against all the gods of Egypt 
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord." 
We also learn that it was to establish his own 

G 



74 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

omnipotent authority, and thus to show the 
vanity of all idols and false gods, that all these 
things were done ; for God also says, " And 
the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, 
when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt." 
Exocl. vii. 5. And, again, " For I will at this 
time send all my plagues upon thine heart, 
and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, 
that thou mayst know that there is none like 
me in all the earth" Exod. ix. 14. 

But there was one plague, the tenth, which 
does not seem to have been against the idola- 
try of Egypt, but as an act of just recompense 
for the murder of the children. " Vengeance 
is mine ; I will repay saith the Lord." Be- 
fore this last terrific plague God sent to Pha- 
raoh the following message :— " Thus saith 
the Lord, Israel is my son, my first-born. 
Let my son go that he may serve me ; and if 
thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy 
son, even thy first-born." Before this threat 
was carried into execution, says one, every 
effort had been made to subdue the obstinacy 
of Pharaoh. Judgment after judgment had 
been sent upon him and his people. His gods 
were shown to be no gods. His sacred river 
was made the source of punishment to him : 
the sun refused him its light : the locusts de- 
voured his crops: yet none of these things 
succeeded in convincing him that Jehovah 
was - supreme throughout the universe, and 
that it was his wisdom to obey. Then, and 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 75 

not till then, God raised his arm to strike the 
terrible blow; and the first-born of Egypt 
perished in one night. 

In all these terrible inflictions but the last, 
Moses was the instrument in the hand of God ; 
and at his word they came. In this last in- 
stance, God sent his destroying angel, who 
passed through the land of Egypt, and at 
midnight slew one in every house : a dread- 
ful example of the consequences which must 
come when sinners harden themselves against 
the Lord. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Israelites are sent away in haste.— -Their 
great numbers. —Moses conducts them into 
the wilderness. —Their arrival at the Red 
Sea. — Led by the pillar of cloud by day 
and fire by night. 

In our last chapter we went a little beyond 
the history, because we wanted to consider 
the plagues of Egypt in one view. Before 
the last plague, however, which was the de- 
struction of the first-born, God gave Moses 
some very remarkable directions. Four days 
before the notice of this last dreadful judg- 
ment was given to Pharaoh, God had settled 



76 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the plan by which the Israelites were to be 
directed, and Moses gave the people full in- 
struction as to the will of God. 

It was ordered that every family, or, in case 
one family was not large enough, two families 
joined together, should, on the tenth day of the 
month, take a lamb, and keep it shut up till the 
fourteenth day of the month, and then kill it 
in the afternoon. The lamb was to be a male 
of the first year, without any blemish. But 
what was very singular, when it was killed its 
blood was to be caught in a dish, and then a 
bunch of hyssop dipped into it, and the blood 
sprinkled on the side posts of every door, and 
also on what is called the lintel, or top part 
of the door, and then not one single person 
was to go outside of the door till they were 
ordered. Besides this they were to roast the 
lamb whole, not even breaking one of its 
bones ; and when it was roasted they were to 
eat it, with no other dressing than bitter herbs, 
and no other bread than unleavened bread, or 
bread made without yeast. And if there was 
more than was wanted, they were not to carry 
it away, or give it away, but to burn it with 
fire. Besides all this they were ordered to 
eat it, prepared to start off upon a journey— • 
they were to have their garments girded about 
them, their sandals on their feet, and their 
staffs or walking sticks ready to take up in a 
moment ; and every thing that was to be car- 
ried was to be packed up ready. Now all 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 77 

these were God's directions, and curious as 
they may seem to us, they all had a very im- 
portant meaning. We could say much on 
the subject, but this would not be according 
to our particular intention, which is the history 
of Moses. We shall, therefore, content our- 
selves with giving the reason which God him- 
self has furnished : — " I will pass through the 
land of Egypt this night, and will smite all 
the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man 
and beast. And the blood shall be unto you 
for a token upon the houses where ye are. 
And when I see the blood, the plague shall 
not come upon you to destroy you, when I 
smite the land of Egypt." It was well that 
the hearts of the Israelites were induced to 
obey the command of God. 

AVhen the appointed day came they slew 
the lamb ; they sprinkled the blood as directed, 
and at midnight there was a noise of mourn- 
ing and lamentation throughout the land. In 
every house it was found that there was one 
dead. 

What a time of distress and terror. It is ap- 
palling to our feelings if w T e hear of the death 
of one of our friends, but here not one solitary 
house was there on which the destroying 
angel had not laid his hand. We cannot even 
imagine the horror of such a scene. We can 
form no conception of the cries of anguish and 
despair. But one thing we can do : w r e can 
learn the truth of the declaration, " It is a 
g 2 



78 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God." Dear readers, repent and flee to Jesus, 
for except as his mercy is revealed in Jesus, 



** our God is a consuming fire. 

But let us return to the history. In the 
middle of the night this dreadful visitation 
came upon the land of Egypt ; and then Pha- 
raoh saw that the God of Israel could no 
longer be trifled with. Every body was up 
in the land, probably expecting some other 
dreadful visitation ; and nothing but confusion 
and distress prevailed. But it was different 
among the Israelites. The blood on their 
door posts had been seen by the destroying 
angel, and at the command of God he had 
passed over the houses of his people. Among 
the Israelites all was quiet. They were pa- 
tiently waiting the time of their deliverance; 
and in the midst of the night they received 
the king's order to be gone. Moses came 
back from the king with this cheering message ; 
and not content with now giving them permis- 
sion to go, both king and people hurried them 
away. And the more to hasten them, they 
gave them gold and silver and raiment— -they 
took off their own ornaments to bribe the peo- 
ple to be in haste ; and nothing was asked for 
that was not given them at once. 

The Egyptians were so much terrified that 
they refused nothing ; and so much trea- 
sure did they heap upon the people, that the 
history tells us they spoiled the Egyptians. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 79 

The Egyptians had gotten their treasures and 
their costly ornaments from the hard working 
of the people of God, and what they gave 
them now was no more than was justly their 
due for the length and the severity of their 
labours. 

Thus in the midst of the night the Israel- 
ites mav be said to have been thrust out of 
■/ 

Egypt, and they were ready to go, for God 
in mercy had been long preparing their minds 
for it, and they had four days to make their 
arrangements. Before the sun rose upon them 
they w«re on their way out of the land where 
they had been so long held as slaves. They 
could not but feel that it was the Lord's doing, 
and it was marvellous in their eyes. 

It was in commemoration of this great event 
that God saw fit to enjoin upon them, as long 
as they were a people, to keep the feast of 
the Passover. 

Now it was, that Moses came into a situa- 
tion of great responsibility. No one who was 
not acting immediately under divine direction 
would ever have thought of undertaking the task 
of leading six hundred thousand persons, be- 
sides women and children, and a mixed multi- 
tude, through a wilderness — for they had no 
supply of provisions, no arms to fight their foes, 
and no means to sustain themselves. But God 
led them, and it was his power that was over 
them.' The whole number probably amounted 
in all to no less than three millions of persons ; 



80 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

more persons than there are at this moment 
in the States of New York and Pennsylvania 
put together. Of all these Moses was the 
leader ; but God led him, or he never could 
have sustained the weight of responsibilit}^. 

The first day's journey of the people was 
from Rameses to Succoth, about twelve miles 
from the land of Goshen, and just on the edge 
of the wilderness. There was a direct road to 
the land of Canaan ; but God did not see (it 
to conduct the people that way, because it 
would have led them through the country of 
the Philistines, a very brave and warlike peo- 
ple who lived in the southwestern extremity 
of the land of Canaan, and who would no 
doubt have attacked them. The people of 
Israel had, for more than forty years, been un- 
accustomed to war, they had lived in a state 
of slavery, and when they left Egypt they had 
no arms ; and though God could and would 
have protected them, had it been his will that 
they should go that way, yet we find that he 
did not often miraculously interpose when any 
thing could be effected by ordinary means. 
Therefore, instead of bringing the people to 
Canaan, through the land of the Philistines, he 
chose, in his own good pleasure, to lead them 
another way ; through the wilderness unoc- 
cupied by any numerous or warlike people. 

There is one thing here to be noticed before 
we go on with the history, which shows how 
important it is, as long as we live, to remem- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 81 

ber the requests made by our dying friends. 
Joseph, when he died in Egypt, had made it 
one of his dying requests, that when they left 
Egypt according to God's promise, in which 
he trusted,' they would carry his bones with 
them, so that they might be buried in the land 
of promise. When he died, therefore, his body 
was embalmed and put in a coffin, and kept ; 
and, though his request had been made one 
hundred and forty-four years before, it was not 
forgotten. Moses took the bones of Joseph, 
and carried them along forty years, and at length 
they were buried with those of his fathers. The 
dying request of a friend or relative should al- 
ways be sacred ; and it ought never to be ne- 
glected unless under circumstances where it 
would be either impossible or injurious to 
others. If any of our readers have lost father or 
mother, who with their dying breath besought 
them to turn to the Lord and love him, oh ! let 
it not be forgotten, and if it has been neglected 
until the present time, now let it be attended to. 

We have already seen that the first place 
which the Israelites stopped at when they left 
Egypt was called Succoth. From that place 
they journeyed to another called Etham, pro- 
bably not more than twenty miles from Suc- 
coth, for it would hardly be possible for a body 
of people encumbered with baggage, and having 
a great number of women and children, to tra- 
vel more than about twenty miles a day. 

Connected with the travels of the people 



82 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

of Israel through the wilderness, there is one 
of the most extraordinary manifestations of 
the power and goodness of God which was 
ever known. The sacred history tells us, 
that the " Lord went before them' by day in 
a pillar of a cloud, to lead them in the way, 
and by night in a pillar of fire to give them 
light ; to go by day and by night." And this 
wonderful appearance continued as long as 
there was any difficulty in finding their way. 
In that pillar the Lord went with them. It 
was what we. call a symbol, or sign, or repre- 
sentation of the presence of God, and there- 
fore it was a continued proof that God was 
with them. 

It is here that we may remark the care 
and kindness of God to his ancient people. 
Every one knows that there was a neces- 
sity for some guide to direct them through 
the wilderness, even though they had been 
permitted to take the most easy and direct 
road, how much more so when they took a 
circuitous, or what we would call a round- 
about way, which none would ever have 
thought of travelling except guided by some 
supernatural means. It is very probable that 
Moses himself knew nothing about, the way : 
that he neither knew when or where they 
were to stop or to go, but depended entirely 
on the Divine direction. It is supposed that 
this pillar, in which God went as their 
invisible leader, was intended, in his mercy, to 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 83 

answer a great variety of purposes. In the 
day time it was merely a cloud, which was 
quite sufficient, for all the people could see it. 
In the night it assumed the appearance ofjire, 
which gave them always as much light as 
they needed. But, besides this, in the day 
time, it answered the purpose of a shade, for 
in that dreadfully hot climate it would have 
been almost impossible for the women and 
children to march during the day time, ex- 
posed to the burning sun ; and hence we have 
good reason to suppose that the cloud which 
led them was also a shadow from the heat. 
We do not like, however, to assert any thing 
of this kind, unless we can find something in 
the Scripture which seems to justify our opi- 
nions. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corin- 
thians, x. 1, alluding to the passage through 
the wilderness, says, " Moreover, brethren, 
I would not that ye should be ignorant how 
that all our fathers were under the cloud ;" 
and David, in the Psalms, says, certainly, 
" He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire 
to give light in the night." How wonderfully 
was the goodness of God displayed, and it is 
just so with all who love him. In some way 
or other he will see fit to bless and protect 
them. Only love the Lord and all shall be 
well. 

The last encampment of the children of 
Israel which we noticed was afrEtham. Mo- 
ses was now directed to lead the people to- 



84 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

wards the Red Sea. They were to encamp 
before a place called Pi-hahiroth, which may 
mean the mouth or bay of Chiroth, between 
Migdol, which was probably a tower or fort 
to defend the bay and the sea, opposite to a 
place called Baal-zephon, supposed to have 
been either an idol temple, or something in- 
tended to answer the purpose of our light- 
houses. It is not possible to fix exactly upon 
the position of these places, and therefore we 
do not pretend to state any thing about them 
with certainty. Such very great changes 
have taken place in so many hundred years, 
that no one can do much more than make a 
probable conjecture. The best idea of the 
situation will be gathered by consulting the 
map which we have had carefully prepared 
from the best authorities. 

God gave to Moses a very singular reason 
for ordering the people to encamp at this 
place : — " For Pharaoh will say of the chil- 
dren of Israel, They are entangled in the land, 
the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will 
harden Pharaoh's heart, that he should follow 
after them ; and I will be honoured upon 
Pharaoh, and upon all his host ; that the 
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord, 
And they did so." Ex. xiv. 3, 4. To this 
place, then, they were led, and here we shall 
leave them, while we go back a little in the 
history to see how Pharaoh and the Egyptians 
bore the departure of the children of Israel. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 85 



CHAPTER XL 

Pharaoh repents of having let the people go. — 
Pursues the Israelites.— Overtakes them, 
but is kept from hurting them. — The Is- 
raelites pass over the Red Sea. — Pharaoh 
attempts to do it and is drowned, he and his 
hosts. 

We have seen that under the alarm which 
was occasioned by the death of the first-born 
of every family in Egypt, Pharaoh and his 
people were induced to let the people of Is- 
rael go. But as soon as they recovered a 
little from their fright, all their evil passions 
seem to have revived, just as is usually the 
case with sinners. In seasons of affliction 
they make many excellent promises and reso- 
lutions, but no sooner does the affliction pass 
away, than these are forgotten, and they are 
as bad or worse than before. 

Pharaoh appears to have been much dis- 
pleased with himself for having let the people 
go ; and when some persons who had gone 
with the Israelites, very probably as spies, 
returned to Egypt, and told him that the Is- 
raelites were likely to flee away so that he 
never would recover them, his pride, and his 
avarice, and his hatred of the people, resumed 
their sway over his heart. He determined at 
all hazards to bring them back to a state of 
H 



86 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

slavery, for he found their services too profit- 
able to be willing to part with them. Pharaoh 
and his people all seem to have united in 
saying, " Why have we done this, to let 
Israel go from serving us ;" as if they had 
said, " What fools we have been to be so 
frightened, and thus lose our slaves. We 
shall now have to do our work for ourselves. 
Let us go and bring them back again." In 
consequence of this foolhardy determination, 
Pharaoh made ready his chariots and horse- 
men. We are told that he " took six hun- 
dred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of 
Egypt, and captains over every one of them." 
And with this mighty military force he over- 
took the people at the place of their encamp- 
ment near the Red Sea. This was a situa- 
tion which seemed to make escape impossible 
for the Israelites. Before them lay the Red 
Sea, which at this place is supposed to have 
been no less than twelve miles wide ; on their 
right hand and on their left were high and 
impassable mountains with forts or towers on 
their tops; and behind them was the whole 
military power of Egypt, led on by the king, 
thirsting for vengeance, and determined to 
bring them back to slavery, or to slay them 
with swords and spears and his chariots armed 
with scythes. They knew that flight was 
impossible, and resistance in vain ; for, be- 
sides their not being accustomed to war, they 
had no weapons, so that without the divine 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 87 

interference they had nothing to expect but 
immediate destruction. 

In this dreadful posture of affairs, the whole 
body of the Israelites were alarmed and terri- 
fied. Some cried unto the Lord, we are afraid 
not with the prayer of faith, but with some- 
what of the same feelings which agitated the 
bosom of the servant of the prophet, whom 
we read of in 2 Kings vi. 15, who, when he 
saw the chariots and horsemen of the king of 
Syria surrounding the walls of Dothan, cried 
out, " Alas, my master, what shall we do ?" 
But there were others who did nothing but 
try to vent their fury upon Moses in such re- 
proachful language as this :— ." Because there 
were no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us 
away to die in the wilderness ? wherefore 
hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth 
out of Egypt ? Is not this the word we did 
tell thee, saying, Let us alone ; for it had been 
better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we 
should die in the wilderness ?" This language 
was as foolish as it was sinful. Who was Mo- 
ses that they should murmur against him ? says 
a writer. Had he not acted throughout by the 
divine direction I Had he not equally with them 
hazarded every thing that was dear ? Had they 
forgotten what wonderful and mighty works 
the Lord had wrought to rescue them from 
their bondage ? or why should they distrust 
his care ? Had they not before them the visi- 
ble tokens of his presence, the pillar of the 



88 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

cloud 1 Alas ! we perceive in them a picture 
of ourselves. How soon do we lose the re- 
membrance of past deliverances ! Every fresh 
danger awakens our fear, as if we had known 
nothing of the goodness of the Lord. 

In this trying state of affairs, when his feel- 
ings must have been very much hurt by the 
reproaches of those whom he was most zeal- 
ously trying to serve, Moses did not lose his 
trust in the Lord. He did not answer the 
people with any reproachful language : he 
maintained his meek and patient spirit; and 
with the utmost faith in God, he tried to 
quiet the fears of the people, by saying, 
" Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation 
of the Lord which he will show you to-day ; 
for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, 
ye shall see them again no more for ever. 
The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall 
hold your peace." This declaration, made in 
faith, was made good to the very letter, as we 
shall soon see. 

In the midst of all the confusion made by 
the approach of the Egyptians, and the alarms 
and reproaches of the Israelites, Moses had 
no opportunity to retire to pray to God for 
direction, but he did pray in his hear§ r and 
the Lord heard him. No mention is made of 
his praying, but his spirit was wrestling in 
supplication with the Most High, as Hannah 
prayed in her heart, while her voice was not 
heard by Eli. The Lord regarded this silent 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 89 

prayer of Moses , and says unto him, " Where- 
fore criest thou unto me : speak to the children 
of Israel that they go forward." Was there 
ever a more strange and singular order given : 
" Go forward," — march through the sea, 
twelve miles wide, and deep enough to drown 
ten thousand times their number. But God 
commanded, and God provided the means of 
obedience ; and here, though it may interrupt 
the history for a moment, we feel bound to 
give a word of advice and encouragement. 
God never makes a command which he is not 
able and willing, in some way, to enable you 
to obey. Remember the case of the man 
with a withered hand, as the story is told in 
the New Testament. Was the command at 
all easier for him to obey, " stretch out thine 
hand," than it was for the Israelites to march 
through the Red Sea ? No : his hand was 
palsied and dead. Yet the cripple felt that 
an attempt at least- was due to the authority 
of him who had given the order. He accord- 
ingly made the effort, and it was followed by 
a blessing: " his arm was restored whole as 
the other." So it is with all. No matter 
what difficulties are in the way of duty to 
God, " Go forward." Duties are with you, 
events are with God. You have no right 
either to hesitate in duty, or to doubt in diffi- 
culty : " you can do all things through Christ 
who strengtheneth yon." His power will 
go before you, and hindrances will disappear. 
ii 2 



00 THE LIFE OF MOSES, 

No sooner had God told Moses to speak to 
the children of Israel that they should go for- 
ward, than he takes away all the difficulties 
at once, by telling him to take his rod in his 
hand, and to stretch it out, over the sea, and 
divide the waters, and that they should all go 
through on dry land. God also tells Moses 
that the time for Pharaoh's entire overthrow 
was now come. That his heart would be 
hardened, so that he would even pursue the 
Israelites into the midst of the sea, and there 
perish, a terrible monument of the folly of 
fighting against God. 

But how does it happen that the Egyptians 
did not attack the Israelites before this was 
done ? Here we see the goodness and mercy 
of God to his people. No sooner did the 
immense army of the Egyptians come near 
the camp of the Israelites, than the Lord, who 
guided them, removed the pillar of the cloud, 
and instead of going before them it went be- 
hind them, just between the Egyptians and 
them ; and we are told that while one side of 
it was all bright, and gave light to the Israel- 
ites, the other side, which was towards the 
Egyptians, was so dark that they could not 
see to get near the people of God, and this 
continued till they were safely over the sea. 
But, in the meantime, Moses, according to the 
command of God, had stretched forth his hand, 
and then the Lord brought a very strong east 
wind all that night, and by his almighty 



THE LIFE OF MOSES, 91 

power the waters, instead of running on in 
the usual course, stood, just like a wall, on the 
right hand and the left, leaving a dry space in 
the middle large enough for the immense body 
of the Israelites to go through. As soon as 
Moses perceived that the water was thus form- 
ing a wall, he ordered the people to move on, 
which they did all night, lighted by the pillar 
of fire which stood between them and the 
Egyptians, and which turned its bright side 
towards them alone. 

The Egyptians, infatuated and blinded by 
their sinful passions, pushed on, and pursued 
the Israelites right into the passage which the 
power of God had made ; and they were mny 
in the situation of those spoken of by Solo- 
mon, when he says, " he that being oft re- 
proved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be 
destroyed, and that without remedy." About 
daylight the next morning, when the Israelites 
were all safely landed on the south side of the 
Red Sea, and while the whole Egyptian army 
were in the midst of the sea, then the Lord 
brought ruin upon them. To prevent their 
overtaking the people of Israel, in some mi- 
raculous manner, the wheels of their chariots 
came off, and they then dragged them along 
with great difficulty ; and then they began to 
think, when it was too late, that they had 
brought themselves into ruin. " Let us flee," 
said they, " from the face of Israel, for the 
Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians." 



92 



THE LIFE OP MOSES* 



What a pity it was that they had not learned 
that lesson before ; for there was quite enough 
to teach them, but now it was too late* They 
had resisted and fought against God till the 
cup of their iniquity was full, and God tells 
Moses : — " Stretch out thine hand over the 
sen, that the waters may come again.' 7 Moses 
did as he was commanded — the waters came 
into their place, and in a very few moments 
Pharaoh and his hosts — his chosen chariots 
and captains, and his deluded people, were all 
of them drowned. Not one was left, so total 
was the destruction which* had come upon 
them for their rebellion against God. And 
thus it was that the Lord saved the people of 
Israel out of the hands of enemies who had 




THE LIFE OF MOSES. 93 

been for a great number of years persecuting 
them, and plotting their destruction. When 
the people, thus redeemed by the mighty 
hand of God, stood on the shore, and saw 
what was done in their behalf, we are told 
that they feared the Lord, and his servant 
Moses. The experience of almighty power 
and boundless mercy, for a little time banished 
their infidelity and rebellion. 

This portion of the history is most useful 
to us, as it points out the difference which 
God puts between the righteous and the wick- 
ed. The faithful and obedient servants of 
Jesus Christ, may pass through difficulties, be 
exercised by trial, be weak in faith, be bowed 
down by despondency, but they " go for- 
ward." The waters of affliction, instead of 
going over their heads, to overwhelm them, 
are made the means of their benefit, until at 
length they have crossed the sea which divides 
time and eternity, and shout hallelujah for 
victory through their Redeemer. But it is 
not so with the wicked. They oppose the 
Lord, but they bring upon themselves nothing 
but ruin. Pharaoh found it so ; the inhabi- 
tants of the world before the flood found it so ; 
other sinners have found it so, and all sinners 
will at last find it so. Now, then, is the time 
to repent and turn to God. The Egyptians 
would have been glad enough to fly when the 
waters of the Red Sea began to return upon 
them ; and gladly would impenitent sinners 



94 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

fly to Christ when the judgment of the great 
day comes upon them. But then it will be 
too late. The Egyptians perished to a man : 
not one was left. And, so, the destruction of 
impenitent sinners will be universal and eter- 
nal. Are there any such among, the readers 
of this little volume, oh, let them resist the 
Lord no longer. Let them flee to Christ. 
Escape is now possible, but soon it will be 
too late. " To-day, while it is called to-day, 
harden not your hearts." 



CHAPTER XII. 

Moses composes a song of victory , which the 
people sing. — The journey continued.*— 
Murmuring at Mar ah. — A tree cast into 
bitter waters makes them sweet. — Elim.— 
Quails and manna sent for food. — Mur- 
muring at Mas sah and Meribah. — Moses 
ordered to smite the rock for water. — War 
iviih the Amalekites. — And visit of Jethro. 

In our last chapter we gave an account of 
the wonderful dealings of God with the peo- 
ple of Israel, in opening a passage for them 
through the Red Sea, and delivering them 
for ever from the long-continued cruelty of the 
Egyptians. No sooner had they recovered 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 95 

from the wonder into which they were thrown 
by these great events, than a day was set apart 
as a solemn thanksgiving to God for their 
marvellous deliverance. On this occasion 
Moses composed an anthem, or sacred song, 
to commemorate the event, and to show forth 
the glory of God. That song is contained at 
length in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, and 
is the very first song of victory which we find 
recorded in the Scriptures. Although it reads 
just as the other parts of Scripture, yet it is 
highly poetical in its character, and full of 
the loftiest expressions of the power and great- 
ness of Jehovah. We cannot here quote the 
song, but we have a piece of poetry, which 
we believe has never been published in this 
country, and which beautifully gives the sense 
of this song of Moses : — 

u Our slavery is finished, our labour is done ; 
Our tasks are relinquish'd, our march is begun : 
The arm of the Lord has divided the sea, 
JEHOVAH has conquered, and Israel is free. 

« « Why stay ye the fast-going chariots ? and why 
Is the far-floating banner uplifted on high ? 
Quick, quick ! let the corselets your bosoms embrace ; 
And harness the courser, and hasten the chase !' 

" Thus Pharaoh has spoke in the storm of his pride, 
And roll'd on our footsteps his numberless tide ; 
The falchions are bright in the hands of the foe, 
Their quivers are rattling, and bent is each bow. 

" As the clouds of the tempest, which gloomily frown, 
That w T ide-spreading band in the evening comes down . 
As the thunder-cloud bursts at the sun's piercing ray, 
That band on the morrow shall vanish away. 



96 THE LIFE OF MOSES* 

" Proud boaster of Egypt! be silent and mourn? 
Weep, daughter of Memphis, thy banner is torn ? 
In the temple of Isis be wailing and wo, 
For the mighty are fallen, and princes laid low. 

" Their chieftains are fall'n though their bows were still 
bent; 

Their legions are sunk, though their shafts were un- 
spent ; 

The horse and his rider are whelmed in the sea; 

JEHOVAH has conquered, and Israel is free !" 

After spending this day of thanksgiving, 
they again set off on their march ; and they 
had to go three days' journey before they 
came to any place where there was water. 
In those countries, persons who travel carry 
as much water as possible with them ; but it 
appears that such an immense body as the 
Israelites could not have carried water enough 
to last more than three days. At this time, 
therefore, they reached a stream, but we may 
judge of their disappointment when we find 
that as soon as they tasted it they discovered 
it was bitter, or what we would call brackish 
or saltish; that is, the water had a strong 
taste of salt, like seawater, and every one 
who has ever tasted this knows that it is very 
disagreeable. The Israelites had been used 
to drinking the very best water which the 
world afforded, namely, that of the river Nile, 
and we need not wonder if their taste was 
somewhat spoiled ; just as a child who had 
been indulged with cakes all his life, would 
find it hard to make a hearty meal from a 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 97 

piece of coarse rye bread. But if in the pro- 
vidence of God, one, who had been indulged 
with cakes, should be obliged to make his 
dinner upon a hard brown loaf, there would 
be no reason why he should murmur; for 
perhaps the brown loaf would be much better 
than he deserved, and at all events every one 
ought to be thankful for whatever he gets, 
and learn, like the good apostle, " in whatso- 
ever state he is, therewith to be content." So, 
because God brought the Israelites where there 
was not any such good water as they had been 
accustomed to drink, it was no excuse for the 
sin of murmuring, and that, too, only three 
days after God had so signally interposed in 
their behalf in the wonderful passage of the 
Red Sea. But those whose hearts are not 
right with God are never truly grateful. God, 
however, who is rich in mercy, here also in- 
terposed in their behalf. When Moses went 
for direction, in relation to these bitter waters, 
God showed him a tree, and told him to cast 
it into the waters. This he did, and the wa- 
ters became immediately sweet, not that the 
tree itself had any power of making the waters 
sweet, but this was the way in which God 
saw fit to change the taste of the waters. 
The tree derived all its virtue from the power 
of almighty God: from the fulness of his 
blessing upon the means which he had revealed 
and commanded to be employed. So no 
earthly consolations can ever change affliction 



98 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

into joy, but God can do it, and will do it 
when with patient submission to his will, we 
look 10 him for help. The place where these 
things occurred to the Israelites was called 
Mar ah, because this word signifies bitter. 

From Marah they marched on to Elim, a 
place where they found twelve wells of water 
which was good. They also found there three 
score and ten, or seventy palm trees, and they 
encamped in this pleasant place. 

It is a little singular that the number of 
wells corresponded exactly with the number 
of tribes, so that each tribe may have had a 
well to itself, and thus there was no confusion. 

God was very merciful in bringing them 
into a place where there was so many palm 
trees also, for the palm tree of the East bears 
a very good fruit, called dates. The palm 
tree grows very beautifully, and to a great 
height, perfectly straight. It is for this reason 
that an upright man is compared to it in the 
Scriptures : — " The righteous shall flourish 
like the palm tree" A traveller, who went 
through this same country many hundred 
years after Moses and the people of Israel, 
stopped there, says, " I saw no more than 
nine of the twelve wells mentioned by Moses, 
the other three being filled up with sand ; yet 
this loss is amply made up by the great in- 
crease of palm trees, the seventy having pro- 
pagated themselves into more than two thou- 
sand." 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 99 

The next place which is mentioned, as an 
encampment of the children of Israel, is the 
Wilderness of Sin. This lies between Elim 
and Mount Sinai. This place they reached 
on the fifteenth day of the second month after 
they left Egypt : thus they had been travelling 
just one month. Here we find them mur- 
muring for bread, and by and by for meat, so 
discontented is human nature. The first time 
that any murmuring is recorded, namely at 
Marah, it is supposed that but few were en- 
gaged in it, but now we are told that the 
whole congregation murmured. All cry out 
for bread and for meat. " Would to God," 
say they, " we had died in Egypt ;" and then 
they ungratefully turned upon Moses and 
Aaron, and said, " Ye have brought us forth 
into this wilderness to kill us with hunger." 
Their murmurings were apparently against 
Moses and Aaron, but all such discontents are 
actually against God, and so Moses told them. 
" What are ive, your murmurings are not 
against us, but against the Lord." Once more 
God forgave their murmurings, and supplied 
their wants. He caused immense flocks of 
quails to come up every evening, and showers 
of manna to fall every night. This manna 
was a very curious thing, and something 
which we do not exactly know how to de- 
scribe ; for what we now call manna, which is 
used as a medicine, is not at all the same thing. 
It is said to have been a small round thing, as 



100 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

small as the hoar frost ; that is, white frost, 
which we see on the ground in the fall and 
spring of the year. And again we are told, in 
Numbers, that the manna " was as coriander 
seed, and the colour thereof as bdellium," that 
is, a kind of pearl colour, or nearly white and 
transparent. It was always preceded or ac- 
companied by a copious dew ; and when that 
went off, which it always does when the sun 
rises, then the manna became visible, and was 
gathered in great quantities ; an omer, or 
about five or six pints for each person. 

What an immense quantity must have fallen 
then, to have fed nearly three millions of peo- 
ple. And what was very curious about it was, 
that the people were never to gather more than 
enough to last them one day, except on the day 
before the Sabbath, when they were to gather 
enough for two days ; and it so happened that 
if the people on any other week day, except the 
day before the Sabbath, gathered more than a 
certain quantity, it always bred worms, and 
became very offensive to the smell ; but the 
quantity which they gathered on the day be- 
fore the Sabbath never bred worms, nor became 
offensive. 

No doubt by this arrangement God in- 
tended to answer two great purposes. He 
meant by sending food every day, to teach 
them the lesson of continual dependence upon 
him ; and by requiring them to gather twice as 
much on the day before the Sabbath, he showed 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 101 

that he meant them to keep holy the Sabbath 
day, and this was before the fourth command ■ 
ment was given. 

We have not room in this history, to dwell 
on all the minute circumstances which are re- 
corded of the Israelites in their journey through 
the wilderness. Though we cannot always 
avoid it, yet we do not wish to go further in 
the history than may be necessary to display 
the character of Moses. The ingratitude of 
the people, their dreadful stubbornness, their 
unbelief, their murmurings, and rebellion, are 
very strikingly contrasted with the meekness 
and patience of Moses. 

From the Wilderness of Sin, the Israelites 
were led by the cloudy pillar to a place called 
Rephidim. Here again they experienced a 
scarcity of water, and here again they murmur- 
ed against Moses and against the Lord ; and in- 
deed their rage rose to so great a pitch, that they 
came near to stone Moses to death. It was on 
this occasion that he was directed to take his 
rod in his hand, and to smite a certain rock in 
Horeb ; and on his doing it, it poured out a 
clear and delightful stream of water, which 
went along with the Israelites during most of 
their journey. There is a rock which travel- 
lers see to this day, and which they suppose to 
be the one smitten by Moses. It is of that kind 
of stone which they call reel granite ; about 
twelve or fifteen feet square ; with several holes 
and channels, which appear to have been 
formed by the bursting of running water. 



102 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 




This stream doubtless supplied them for a 
considerable time ; hence it was said, figura- 
tively, that the rock followed them. And as 
it was customary in those early times, to re- 
cord events by giving names, this place, Re- 
phidim, was called Massah, " temptation," 
because here they tempted God ; and Meribah, 
" chiding," or strife, because here they chided 
Moses. This rock, which by being wounded 
produced a copious stream of water, is also 
represented by the apostle Paul, as typical of 
Christ. " They drank of that spiritual Rock 
that followed them" in a stream of living wa- 
ter, and " that Rock was Christ," (1 Cor. x. 4.) 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 103 

On this circumstance one piously remarks, 
that " Christ (the spiritual Rock) being smitten 
by the rod of Moses, and bearing the curse of 
the law for our sins, from him floweth that 
spiritual drink wherewith all believers are re- 
freshed." (See John xix. 34. 1 John ver. 8.) 
One difficulty, however, was scarcely sur- 
mounted, when another came up. While they 
were at Rephidim, little expecting such an 
event, the king of the Amalekites, at the head 
of a large number of his people, came and at- 
tacked the Israelites. This attack was a very 
mean and cowardly one, for they came to the 
rear of the camp, and fell to killing and plun- 
dering those in the rear : probably the wo- 

j men and children, the sick and weary. It is 

i very likely that like the wandering Arabs in 
the same country at the present day, their 

I object was rather plunder than any thing else ; 

! but in order to plunder they did not care whom 

i they killed. 

Moses, however, was ready as soon as the 

1 difficulty was understood, and he chose a 
young man, Joshua, to be the captain ; and 
all things were prepared to give battle to the 
Amalekites. On the next day, the Amale- 
kites came on again, and Joshua went out 
to meet them. But what was Moses do- 
ing ? Ah, Moses did what was as good as 

' lighting : he went up to the top of a hill, with 
his rod in his hand, where he could see the 
battle, and there he lifted up his hands in 



104 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

prayer to God, that he would fight for them. 
And just so long as Moses held up his hands 
in prayer the Israelites prevailed, and when 
he ceased praying their enemies prevailed. 

As the battle was a very long one, for it 
lasted all day, Moses, from his age and ex- 
citement of mind, grew weary. It was happy 
that Aaron and Hur were with him, for they 
brought him a stone to set upon, and they as- 
sisted in holding up his hands, so that about 
sun-down the victory declared for Joshua and 
the people ; and the Amalekites were defeated 
and driven off. 

This was the first time we read of Joshua. 
He afterwards became very distinguished. 
And this was the first battle which the Israel- 
ites ever had. We do not know how many 
were killed ; but it must have been a dreadful 
battle. God told Moses to write an account 
of it, for the purpose of guiding Joshua in his 
future conduct towards the Amalekites, which 
he did ; and, to commemorate the goodness of 
the Lord, he built an altar on the very place 
where he had sat, and called it Jehovah Nissi, 
the Lord my Banner. 

One very interesting circumstance here took 
place, in relation to Moses himself. While 
they were at this place, Rephidim, he had a 
visit from his father-in-law, Jethro. It ap- 
pears that Zipporah, who it will be remem- 
bered was the wife of Moses, for some reason 
not clearly expressed, left Moses on his entering 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 105 

into Egypt, and went back to her father ; but 
here returning with Jethro, and with both her 
children, is cordially received. Before Jethro 
arrives, however, he " said unto Moses," 
doubtless by the hand of a messenger, " I am 
* come unto thee : and Moses went out to meet 
him." Jethro, both by this and by his sub- 
sequent conduct, appears to have been a wise 
and prudent man, and a worshipper of Jeho- 
vah ; for he " rejoiced in all the goodness 
which Jehovah had done to Israel," and ac- 
knowledged him to be, if not the only, yet 
the supreme God ; for he said, " Now I know 
j that Jehovah is greater than all gods." Jethro 
i appears to have been a priest of the patriarchal 
I order, and therefore united with Moses and 
j Aaron, and the elders of Israel, in a sacrificial 
f feast. But his wisdom particularly appears 
k In the advice which he subsequently gave to 
Moses, to appoint certain elders of the people 
j i to assist him in determining all petty contro- 
[ I yersies, which, among so discontented a peo- 
ple, were doubtless very numerous, and would 
[ soon wear out the strength of a younger man 
I han Moses. "There may be over-doing 
j says Mr. Henry) in well-doing ; and there- 
ore our zeal must always be governed by dis- 
cretion, that our good may not be evil spoken 
jf. Wisdom is profitable to direct, that we 
nay neither content ourselves with less than 
mr duty, nor overtask ourselves with that 
vhich is beyond our strength." 






106 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

Moses, however, following his advice, es- 
tablished an excellent system of courts, by 
means of elders chosen from the people, with 
an appeal to himself in the last resort, and in 
all cases of peculiar difficulty. In nothing, 
however, is the wisdom of Jethro more appa- 
rent, than in the characters he advises Moses 
to select ; " able men, such as fear God, men 
of truth, hating covetousness ;" and they were 
to "judge the people at all seasons;" thus 
securing all the important objects of a good 
government, a wise and impartial judgment, 
promptly administered ; for nothing tends 
more to the increase of crime, than the delay 
and uncertainty of justice. It is " because 
sentence is not executed speedily, that the 
hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them 
to do evil." Eccles. viii. 11. 

Jethro also shows his independence of 
mind and disinterestedness, in immediately 
returning to his own country, without stopping 
to fill any one of those high departments, to 
which his talents and character would certainly 
have entitled him. Of Zipporah we hear little 
more ; it is possible she did not long survive ; 
if she did, her attention was wisely and pru- 
dently confined to her family and domestic 
concerns. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 107 



CHAPTER XIII. 

' Preparations for giving the Law on Mount 
Sinai. — Glorious appearance of the pre- 
sence of God. — The law of the Ten Com- 
mandments given by God himself 

We have now arrived at a portion of the 
; history of Moses, which is connected with 
vsome of the most extraordinary events which 
\ ever took place on earth. We mean the giving 
I J the law on Mount Sinai. In writing the life 
of Moses, we of course cannot enter into the 
meaning of those laws and institutions which 
God then delivered. We propose to go no fur- 
ther than to show how, in the wisdom of God, 
Moses was connected with them. We trust 
that every reader of this little volume is ac- 
j quainted with the Ten Commandments ; and 
it would be a most glorious and happy thing, 
J if every one made them a rule by which he 
. would seek to govern his conduct, for they 
i embrace every duty which we owe to God or 
to man; so that our Saviour has most justly 
I represented them, when he said, " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
This is the first and great commandment. 



108 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the pro- 
phets." Matt.xxii. 37 — 40. 

We learn from the sacred history that, 
under the leading of Moses, the people of Is- 
rael came to the wilderness of Sinai in the 
third month, and most probably the first day 
of the month. This is generally supposed to 
be the forty-sixth day after they left the land 
of Egypt. 

The wilderness of Sinai is a large plain, 
nearly nine miles long and three broad. It 
is open on the north east, but completely 
closed on the south by the mountain itself. 
This mountain has two peaks or summits, one 
is called Horeb, and the other Sinai ; but it 
is probable that originally they had but one 
name, and were both called Horeb. By look- 
ing on the map, it will be seen that this moun- 
tain stands at the south corner of the point of 
land which runs into the Red Sea, and which 
separates between the gulf of Colzum on the 
west, and what is called the Elanitic gulf on 
the east. It has never been exactly ascertained 
how high Mount Sinai is, but as its top is 
covered with snow all the year, in the burning 
climate of Arabia, it can hardly be supposed 
to be less than ten thousand feet. 

The Israelites were encamped at the foot of 
this range of mountains for nearly a year ; and 
it was during this time, that God delivered the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 109 

law, and a great variety of orders which re- 
lated to the civil and ecclesiastical condition 
of the people. 

In order to prepare the minds of the people 
for the reception of the law, and to impress 
them with reverence for his own character, 
God saw fit to introduce the giving of the law 
by circumstances of the most striking and 
awful solemnity. 

In the first place God told Moses what he 
was about to do, and directed him to address 
the people, and require of them three days 
special spiritual preparation. They were to 
be sanctified, or separated for this purpose, 
and in token of their inward purification they 
were to wash their clothes. They were also 
to spend the intervening time in fasting and 
prayer, and on the third day gather them- 
selves round about the foot of the mount. 
But in order to keep them at a proper distance 
bounds were set, which none were to pass 
under the penalty of death. 

All things being thus prepared, on the third 
] day, which was now the fiftieth after their de- 
parture from Egypt, the solemn transactions, 
which God had previously spoken of, began 
to take place. On the top of Mount Sinai 
there was a thick cloud gathered, and out of 
that cloud they saw the most vivid flashes of 
lightning, and heard the most appalling thun- 
der ; and besides this there was the sound of 
a trumpet so exceedingly loud, that every one 
K 



110 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

of the people trembled for fear. Even Moses 
himself, as Paul tells us in the epistle to the 
Hebrews, was constrained to say, " I exceed- 
ingly fear and quake." While the trumpet 
was sounding, long and loud, Moses brought 
the people out of their tents, and ranged them 
round the mountain as God had commanded. 
Then the whole mountain appeared, as it 
were, filled with smoke, as if from a burning 
furnace ; for the great God descended upon 
it, in fire, and the mountain trembled as if it 
would be entirely destroyed. The trumpet 
continued to sound louder and louder, and at 
last a voice, which was the voice of God, 
called Moses up into the mount. According 
to command Moses went up, and received a 
message to go down and prevent the people 
from encroaching on the boundaries which 
had been set. Moses went down and ad- 
dressed the people, and then God spake in a 
voice which could be heard by every indivi- 
dual surrounding the mountain, and delivered 
those commands which we call the Decalogue, 
or the Ten Commandments. 

We cannot well imagine the solemn awe 
and terror which this scene must have wrought 
in the minds of the people of Israel. To 
have the great Jehovah speak to them in a 
voice which all could hear and understand ; 
to hear commands so pure and holy ; and to 
have it all accompanied by thunderings and 
lightnings, and the sound of a trumpet loud 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. Ill 

and long ; to feel the earth shaking beneath 
them, and to see the mountain apparently- 
burning up — all this was enough to awaken 
their terrors ; and we are not surprised to find 
that they removed from the bottom of the 
mount, and stood at a distance gazing on the 
solemn and terrific scene. They then said to 
Moses, " speak thou with us, and we will hear ; 
but let not God speak with us lest we die." 

Moses endeavoured to encourage them, 
and told them that they need not fear ; that 
God was come to prove them ; and that all 
this terror was to impress upon their minds 
the awful danger of sinning against God. Mo- 
ses, however, did as they desired, and he 
alone drew near to the burning mountain, 
and the thick darkness where God had hid 
his presence from all human gaze. There 
God talked with him, and gave him those di- 
rections which are recorded in the latter part 
of the twentieth chapter, and continued through 
the 21st, 22d, and 23d chapters of Exodus. 
And thus closed the most solemn day, and the 
most solemn and important transactions which 
ever occurred on earth, if we except the great 
transactions of Calvary's sacred mountain ; 
when our Lord, Jesus Christ, gave himself 
up as an offering and sacrifice for sin. And 
never, till the light of the last morning shall 
dawn upon the world, and the archangel's 
trumpet shall sound its summons to arouse 
the dead, and to bring all mankind before the 



112 THE LIFE OF MOSES, 

judgment seat of Christ, and receive their 
eternal destiny — never, until the last great 
fire shall burn up the earth, and all that is 
therein, will there be such a spectacle as was 
this day exhibited to the men of Israel, while 
they stood round Mount Sinai, and received 
the law. 

The law of God, every one of us has 
broken. How then are we to escape, and 
where are we to look ? The gospel of our 
Saviour answers these questions. It tells us, 
that the " Law is a schoolmaster to bring us 
unto Christ that we may be justified by faith." 
The law does this, by showing the convinced 
transgressor plainly to himself as exposed to 
the wrath of a sin-hating God. It compels 
him to ask, " What shall I do to be saved." 
The sinner looks back to Sinai, and he hears 
" Cursed is every one who continueth not in 
all things written in the book of the law to do 
them." He looks forward to the gospel ; he 
sees the cross of Calvary ; he hears the pre- 
cious invitation : — " Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He then 
finds that he can neither perform the perfect 
conditions of the law, nor endure the penalty 
of transgression. In this state the Holy Spirit 
convinces him of sin ; takes of the things of 
Christ, and shows them unto him. He looks 
into the gospel, and reads, " Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being 
made a curse for us." Gal. iii. 13. "In 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 113 

whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches 
Qf his grace." Ephes, i. 7. " And by him 
all that believe are justified from all things," 
&c. Acts xiii. 39. 

The more, indeed, we know of the law, 
and the more we become acquainted with 
ourselves, the more directly and speedily shall 
we be induced to flee to the reconciling mercy 
of God in Jesus Christ, and submit ourselves 
to him ; and we shall seek to be found in 
him, not having our own righteousness, which 
is of the law, but that which is through the 
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of 
God by faith. 

Dear readers, consider your privileges as 
those who live under the gospel covenant. 
How beautifully Paul contrasts your situation 
with that of those who were without the full 
revelation of the gospel : — " For ye are not 
come unto the mount that might be touched, 
and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, 
and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of 
a trumpet, and the voice of words : which 
voice thev that heard, entreated that the word 
should not be spoken to them any more : (For 
they could not endure that which was com- 
manded, And if so much as a beast touch the 
mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through 
with a dart : and so terrible was the sight, 
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake :) 
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto 
k2 



114 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, and to an innumerable company of 
angels, to the general assembly and church 
of the first-born, which are written in heaven, 
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits 
of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
mediator of the new covenant, and to the 
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things 
than that of Abel." Heb. xii. 18—24. A 
trumpet, indeed, is sounding, but it is not the 
loud and terrible trumpet of Sinai. It is the 
silver trumpet of the gospel jubilee which 
proclaims pardon, peace, life, love, holiness, 
and heaven. 

But superior privileges imply superior re- 
sponsibility : — " See that ye refuse not him 
that speaketh. For if they escaped not who 
refused him that spake on earth, much more 
shall not we escape, if we turn away from him 
that speaketh from heaven : Whose voice then 
shook the earth : but now he hath promised, 
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth 
only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet 
once more, signifies the removing of those 
things that are shaken, as of things that are 
made, that those things which cannot be 
shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving 
a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us 
have grace, whereby we may serve God ac- 
ceptably with reverence and godly fear. For 
our God is a consuming fire." Heb. xii. 
25—29. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 115 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Moses is called up into the Mount, and there 
remains with God forty days and forty 
nights. — How occupied during this time. 
— The people of Israel worship the golden 
calf. — Aaron also guilty. — God informs 
Moses of the transaction, and orders him 
to return to the people. — Moses breaks the 
tables of the law. 

When Moses had finished instructing the 
people in those laws which were given him 
after the solemn announcement of the Ten 
Commandments, which God had himself 
spoken to the people, he was summoned to 
return to the mount, and to take with him 
Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of 
the elders of the children of Israel. These 
persons were to remain on the mount, while 
Moses alone was permitted to draw near to 
the immediate presence of God. Previous to 
this, however, Moses again addressed himself 
to the people, and told them all that God had 
communicated to him. The people testified 
their entire willingness to obey the commands 
of the Lord. After this Moses wrote all that 
God had commanded him ; and after a solemn 



110 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

sacrifice, where he and the people entered 
into a covenant of agreement with God, he 
read the book he had prepared to all the peo- 
ple, and they again professed their determina- 
tion of obedience. He then took the blood 
of the sacrifice, and sprinkled it half on the 
people and half on the altar, calling it " the 
blood of the covenant which the Lord had 
made with them." This whole circumstance 
was, no doubt, intended to impress on their 
minds one of the most important truths to 
which their attention could be directed, viz., 
that the covenant was made with them only- 
through the blood of an atoning sacrifice. 
This, the apostle tehYus, in Heb. ix. 18 — 23, 
was intended as a shadow or type of the 
manner in which all true believers are ad- 
mitted into covenant with God, that is, through 
the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. 

When this solemn transaction was over, 
Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the 
seventy elders, went up into the mount, and 
there, as representatives of the people, they 
were permitted to have a view of the glory of 
God, of a character totally different from that 
which had just before been exhibited. When 
God gave the law he appeared in the terrors 
of his majesty, here he appears under an as- 
pect of peculiar mildness. It is supposed 
that these two representations are intended to 
be symbolical of the character of God, in the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 117 

two aspects under which he has seen fit to 
reveal himself to men. In the law he appears 
as a consuming fire, requiring perfect and un- 
sinning obedience. In the gospel he appears 
in all the mild radiance of his character, as in 
Jesus Christ, willing to forgive sin, and re- 
ceive the sinner into favour, when he repents 
and turns to Jesus. As to the appearance of 
the glory of God here spoken of, we can only 
describe it in the language of the Scriptures, 
for to add any thing would but show our own 
folly and presumption. " And they saw the 
God of Israel : and there was under his feet 
as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, 
and as it were the body of heaven in his 
clearness." Ex. xxiv. 10. 

After this striking circumstance, Moses, 
being called of God, took Joshua with him, 
and went up higher into the mount. Here 
they remained six days, no doubt in holy 
prayer and contemplation ; and on the seventh 
day God called Moses again, and then, leaving 
Joshua, he went still higher on the mount, 
and being surrounded by the glory of the 
Lord, which to the people who were below 
looked like devouring fire, there, in the im- 
mediate presence of God, he remained forty 
days and forty nights. During this time his 
body was sustained by miracle, as God ren- 
dered it unnecessary for him to have his ac- 
customed food ; just as afterwards Elijah, and, 
still later, our blessed Saviour, during the pe- 



118 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

riod of his temptation, fasted forty days, and 
were miraculously sustained. 

The sacred history lets us into a knowledge 
of what was done during these forty days and 
nights when Moses was in the mount with 
God. Here he was instructed as to the build- 
ing of a tabernacle, and every minute circum- 
stance connected with it ; here he was directed 
as to the appointment of a regular priesthood, 
which was to be confined to Aaron and his 
sons, and all the ceremonies and offerings 
which were to be connected with the service ; 
here also Moses was instructed as to the per- 
sons who were to be engaged in the building 
of the tabernacle. All these directions are 
contained in the chapters of the book of Exo- 
dus, beginning with the twenty-fifth and end- 
ing with the thirty-first. As the description 
of the tabernacle, with its rich and costly fur- 
niture, its uses, its priests, its sacrifices, and 
its symbolical character, belongs rather to the 
history of the Jewish people than to the his* 
tory of Moses, we are compelled to pass over 
it unnoticed. It would make a most deeply 
interesting and valuable book, but would 
swell the history far beyond the limits assigned 
to the present work. In the meantime we 
will direct the attention of our readers, who are 
desirous of further information, to a work pub- 
lished by the American Sunday-school Union, 
called " Biblical Antiquities ;" where the 
whole history of the tabernacle is largely treated. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 119 

At the close of the interesting communica- 
tion which God held with Moses during these 
forty days and forty nights, he gave him two 
tablets of stone, on which he himself had 
written the Ten Commandments ; hence said, 
in the language of the Scripture, to be 
" written with the finger of God." 

But we must now briefly notice a circum- 
stance of the most deeply melancholy charac- 
ter. During the sojourn of Moses on the 
mountain the people had become restless and 
discontented. They did not know how to 
account for his long stay, and probably some 
of the instigators concluded that he had gone 
off, or that God had destroyed him. In the 
wickedness of their hearts they forgot all that 
God had done for them, and in their deter- 
mined rebellion, they gathered themselves to 
Aaron, and demanded that he should furnish 
them with some other god, under whose di- 
rection they might march either back to Egypt 
or on to Canaan. And so ungrateful were 
they that they even spoke contemptuously of 
Moses: — "As for this Moses" we do not 
know what is become of him. 

Under these circumstances, Aaron, who 
ought to have rebuked the people, and stood 
forth the champion both of God and of his 
brother Moses, appears to have been afraid of 
his people. Some have attempted to excuse 
him, on the plea that his life was threatened. 
Some say that the people killed Hut for op- 



120 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

posing their wickedness ; but all this is no 
excuse. Aaron ought to have opposed the 
people, to have been faithful to God, and to 
have left the issue in his hands. There is no 
reason why we should attempt to excuse the 
wickedness of those whose characters are 
written in the Scriptures. Their history is 
placed before us that we may learn by their 
example. If they had all been perfect cha- 
racters the history itself would have been in- 
credible, because unnatural, and therefore we 
are to learn the lessons intended to be taught— 
to be humble and fearful, and to take heed 
lest we fall and come into condemnation. 

Some think that Aaron tried to keep the 
people from doing the wicked thing which 
they desired. He told them to bring their orna- 
ments of gold for him to make a god of them, 
probably supposing that they would rather 
give up their determination than give up their 
gold ; but, if this was his design, he made a 
great mistake — for wicked people will sacrifice 
any thing sooner than their evil determina- 
tions ; even gold and silver will be thrown 
away in any quantities for the purposes of vi- 
cious indulgence. How many persons spend 
all their property for the poor, miserable plea- 
sure of getting drink, and how many waste 
all their money upon their sensual enjoyments. 
There is nothing hard for the carnal heart to 
give up, but the love of sin. The people 
broke off their ear-rings and brought them to 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 121 

him ; and when he had received the golden 
ornaments he melted them, and run them into 
a mould which he had made in the form of a 
calf. He chose this form, probably because 
he thought that it would particularly gratify 
the people, inasmuch as in Egypt they had 
been in the habit of seeing a calf worshipped ; 
for the great Egyptian god called Osiris was 
worshipped under this form. 

It does not appear, however, that Aaron or 
the people meant entirely to forsake the wor- 
ship of the true God. They meant to wor- 
ship the God of Israel under the similitude of 
a calf; for Aaron, when he had made the 
calf, built an altar before it, and said to the 
people, " To-morrow is a feast unto the Lord," 
or Jehovah. The sin of Aaron and the peo- 
ple was not their disposition utterly to forsake 
the worship of the true God, but to mingle 
with his worship that of an idol which he had 
forbidden. Idolatry consists not only in ac- 
tually worshipping false gods instead of the 
true, but in making representations, or images, 
through which to worship the true God. The 
second commandment forbids every thing of 
the kind; and therefore to have images in 
churches or in our houses, and to bow down 
before them in any way of religious homage, 
is, in the sight of God, idolatry. 

It is an old saying, that we are always 
swift enough to do evil. The Israelites rose 
up early in the morning to worship before the 
L 



122 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 




golden calf, and after they had paid their 
senseless adoration, and offered sacrifices, 
they spent the day very much as the heathen 
do in the worship of their gods, viz. in gross 
and abominable licentiousness. But all this, 
just as every sin which is committed on the 
earth, in thought, in word, or in deed, was 
seen by that God whose eye nothing escapes. 
How must it have distressed the mind of 
Moses, who now for forty days and forty 
nights had been engaged in sweet commu- 
nion with God, to hear from his mouth such 
language as this :— " And the Lord said unto 
Moses, Go, get thee down ; for thy peo- 
ple, which thou broughtest out of the land of 
Egypt, have corrupted themselves : They 






THE LIFE OF MOSES. 123 

have turned aside quickly out of the way 
which I commanded them : they have made 
them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, 
and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These 
be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought 
thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the 
Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this peo- 
ple, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people : 
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath 
may wax hot against them, and that I may 
consume them: and I will make of thee a 
great nation." Ex. xxxiii. 7 — 10. 

Had not Moses been a man of most extra- 
ordinary humility and self-denial, he never 
could have withstood the wonderful tempta- 
tion of ambition which this proposal placed 
before him. In consequence of their sins, 
and especially their sin in the idolatry of the 
golden calf, God here offers to Moses to cut 
off the whole people of Israel, who had ren- 
dered themselves liable to his just indignation, 
and to substitute in their place the posterity 
of Moses : thus making him the head of a 
great and distinguished nation. The faith 
and humility of Moses prevailed against this ; 
and his great love for the people, for whom 
he had already suffered so much, induced him 
to pray to the Lord most earnestly that he 
would not carry this threat into execution. 
He pleads with Jehovah for the sake of his 
own glory, and his promises to Abraham, not 
to cut off the people though they had so 



124 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

grievously rebelled. Moses, in his earnest- 
ness however, seems to have forgotten that 
even if God had cut off that whole generation, 
it would have been no breach of his promise 
to Abraham, for if he had made a great nation 
of his posterity his promise to Abraham would 
have been fulfilled, for Moses was one of 
the descendants of that illustrious partriarch. 
But the regard which Moses here manifested 
for the Divine honour, was highly pleasing in 
the sight of God ; and as the effectual fervent 
prayer of the righteous availeth much, the 
people were spared at the intercession of him 
of whom they had spoken with so much dis- 
respect, calling him this Moses. 

When Moses had succeeded in the object 
of his petition, he turned from the presence 
of the Lord, and took his melancholy journey 
down the mount, to attend to the unpleasant 
and distressing duty arising out of this idola- 
try of the people. In his hands he carried 
those tables of the law on which the Ten 
Commandments had been w r ritten by the finger 
of God. When he came to the place where 
Joshua had been stationed, the people were in 
the height of their boisterous merriment, and 
so great was the noise of their shouting, that 
it was heard far up the mount. As was na- 
tural for Joshua, who was a military man, he 
supposed that the noise was that of war, and 
that either there was a civil commotion in 
which the people were fighting among them- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 125 

selves, or else that they had been attacked by 
their enemies. He said to Moses, " There 
is noise of war in the camp." But Moses, 
who knew the cause of all this noise, told him 
that the sound was not like that of those who 
shouted for victory, neither was it like the 
cry of those who had been beaten, but that it 
was the noise of singing, which indicated 
mirth. But he did not stay to converse with 
Joshua, he still kept on down the mountain, 
and when he came where he could see the 
transactions, he perceived that the people were 
dancing, and singing, and shouting before the 
calf. We are then told that his " anger waxed 
hot," and that he threw down the tables of 
the law, and broke them in pieces. 

We stop here one moment, to correct an 
error which young persons are apt to fall into 
in relation to this action of Moses. There is 
nothing in the history which goes to prove 
that the anger of Moses was a criminal indul- 
gence of passion. His whole conduct here 
was of what is called a symbolical character, 
and there can be no doubt that he acted under 
a divine impulse. His anger was no personal 
feeling against the people, but was intended 
to express his abhorrence of the crime which 
had been committed against God. 

But Moses had a task to perform still more 

painful. It was to be the instrument of 

punishing the people for their sin. He took 

the golden calf, and by some method which 

l2 



126 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

is not mentioned, but probably by filing, re- 
duced it to a state of powder, and mixed it 
with water, which they were compelled to 
drink ; this, no doubt, being intended to teach 
them that they must always expect to expe- 
rience the bitter effects of their transgressions. 
It is most unquestionably true, as applied to 
all sinners, that they " shall eat the fruit of 
their own ways, and be filled with their own 
devices." 

And yet Moses had a still farther duty 
to discharge : the rebuking of his own dear 
brother Aaron for the part which he had 
taken in this iniquitous transaction. It is re- 
markable that he did not ask him what apology 
or excuse he had to make for his concurrence 
with the people in the idolatry into which 
they had run, but he asks him in what the 
people had offended him, which could have 
induced him to revenge himself by leading 
his brethren into such great wickedness. 
This most emphatically declares the judgment 
which Moses entertained of the conduct of 
Aaron, and sets at rest all the efforts which 
have been made to excuse it. " Indeed," 
says one, " no wise man ever made a more 
unmeaning and foolish excuse than Aaron 
did. ' And Aaron said, Let not the anger of 
my lord wax hot : thou knowest the people, 
that they are set on mischief. For they said 
unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before 
us : for as for this Moses, the man that brought 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 127 

us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not 
what is become of him. And I said unto them, 
Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it 
off. So they gave it me : then I cast it into 
the fire, and there came out this calf.' " Ex. 
xxxii. 22—24. 

If the people were bent upon mischief, 
Aaron, the saint and servant of the Lord, 
who was intrusted with authority over Is- 
rael, should have ventured and suffered all 
extremities in opposing their mad design. 
But while he was as pliant as they could 
wish, and very active in the business, he 
charged all the blame on others, and spoke as 
if the golden calf had been produced by acci- 
dent, with little or no agency of his. And, 
besides this, he seemed to care more lest Mo- 
ses should be angry, than he did for the anger 
of God. It was no wonder that " the Lord 
was angry with him to have destroyed him," 
as Moses tells us, in Deut. ix. 20. But Mo- 
ses prayed for him also, and we have every 
reason to believe that he was ever after 
ashamed of his conduct on this occasion. 

This act of idolatry, however, could not be 
passed over by a righteous God, who will not 
suffer his glory to be given to another with- 
out some dreadful manifestation of his indig- 
nation : consequently about three thousand 
of the people, no doubt those who had been 
most actively engaged, fell that day by the 
command of the Lord. The next day Moses 



128 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

brought the sin of the people to their minds ; 
but told them that he would seek some atone- 
ment to be made. With this view he ap- 
peared before the Lord, but no atonement was 
directed to be made. Moses prayed with the 
utmost importunity, and even expressed his 
willingness that the Lord should cut him off 
and deprive him of all the promised privileges, 
if he would but spare the people. Here was 
an evidence of uncommon disinterestedness. 
It was as much as if he had said, " O Lord, 
instead of destroying Israel as a sacrifice to 
thy justice, and making of me a great nation, 
let me be the sacrifice, and spare them. And 
if it may not consist with thy glory to spare 
them otherwise, and my death may suffice for 
that purpose, exclude me from Canaan, and 
take me out of life, in any way that thou seest 
good : only let the people be spared." In 
this transaction Moses appears to be a won- 
derful and striking type of our Lord and Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ, who did actually lay down 
his life that poor sinners might be saved. 
How beautifully is the love of Christ displayed 
in the epistle to the Romans :— Therefore, 
being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: By 
whom also we have access by faith into this 
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God. And not only so, but 
we glory in tribulations also : knowing that 
tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 129 

experience ; and experience, hope : and hope 
maketh not ashamed ; because the love of 
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy- 
Ghost, which is given unto us. For when 
we were yet without strength, in due time 
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely 
for a righteous man will one die : yet perad- 
venture for a good man some would even dare 
to die. But God commendeth his love to- 
ward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
Christ died for us. Much more then, being 
now justified by his blood, we shall be saved 
from wrath through him. For if, when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son, much more, being re- 
conciled, we shall be saved by his life. 
Eom. v. 1—10. 

God, however, would not listen to the pro- 
posal of Moses. He directed him to go on 
in leading the people towards Canaan, and 
promises him his guiding care ; but he tells 
him distinctly that this sin of the people of 
Israel, in worshipping the golden calf, should 
not be forgotten. " Nevertheless," says God, 
" in the day when I visit I will visit their sin 
upon them." To this very day the Jews 
have a saying very common among them, and 
just as true as it is common, " that all the 
calamities which have ever since befallen the 
nation, have, in them, a measure of the Lord's 
indignation for the sin of the golden calf." 
How true is it, that God is a " jealous God, 



130 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

and will not give his glory to another." 
How true, that " sin shall not go unpunish- 
ed." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Moses desirous to behold the glory of God.-— 
Is afterwards directed to prepare two ta- 
bles of stone. —Ascends the mountain 
again. — Continues, as before, forty days 
and nights. — Returns with the tables of 
the law. — His face has a singularly bright 
appearance. 

In the history of Moses, we find many in- 
stances in which his faithful and persevering 
prayers were answered. He had prevailed 
so far as to stay the execution of the sentence 
against the Israelites in the matter of the gol- 
den calf; but seems to be somewhat discour- 
aged when God declined to be, as heretofore, 
the leader of the people. Moses was told to 
go and direct the people in their march to 
Canaan, but God said to him, that instead of 
going before them as he had heretofore done, 
he would send an angel, under whose guidance 
they might reach the land. When this was 
told the people they mourned, and humbled 
themselves before God. As the peculiar pre- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 131 

sence of God was removed from them, most 
probably by the departure of the cloudy pillar, 
Moses himself, no doubt acting by divine 
impulse, removed the tabernacle where he 
had administered the affairs of the people, 
beyond the boundaries of the encampment. 
This itself must havje conveyed to the minds 
of the people a very powerful idea of the 
heavy displeasure of God : for henceforth they 
would understand that he would not dwell 
in the midst of them. This action of Moses 
was observed by the people with great appa- 
rent interest. No sooner had he entered into 
the tent, than the cloudy pillar, which in all 
probability had been withdrawn since the ido- 
latry of the golden calf, now descended again, 
and stood at its door. This re-appearance of 
the cloudy pillar, not over the camp, but at a 
distance, and where Moses was, served to 
convince the people that he had acted under 
divine direction, and they seem to have been 
so deeply impressed by it, that they fell down 
in solemn worship. While the people were 
in this situation, the sacred history tells us, 
that the Lord talked with Moses, and the very 
remarkable expression is used, that he " spake 
unto Moses, face to face, as a mari speaketh 
to his friend ;" not that there was any ap- 
pearance like a human form, for we are told 
repeatedly that no manner of similitude of 
God has ever been seen, but that there was a 
voice coming out of the cloud and conversing, 



132 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

very probably like what is recorded of our Sa- 
viour, in Matthew xvii. 5 :• — " While he yet 
spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed 
them : and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, 
which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased ; hear ye him." 

Moses here pleads with God that he would 
not forsake the people, but that he would still 
lead them to Canaan; and God, in infinite 
mercy and condescension, granted this request 
also ; and tells his faithful servant that His 
" presence should go with them," on account 
of the favour which he bore to him. How 
honoured was Moses : truly there were none 
like him. 

Encouraged and made bold by the suc- 
cess with which he had met, Moses ventured 
to ask of God, as a very special favour, and 
one which would particularly animate his 
soul, that God would show him his " glory." 
As Moses had already seen many great mani- 
festations of the glory of God, we are here to 
understand by this request, something far be- 
yond any appearance which had hitherto been 
made : something more spiritual in its nature. 
On this occasion God said to Moses, that his 
request, as to its full intention, could not be 
granted ; for that if he showed his glory it 
would be sufficient to strike him dead, by its 
transcendent splendour and brightness. But 
he was told, that as far as a mortal could 
endure the sight he should be gratified. Then 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 133 

God told him to stand upon a rock, and that 
he would permit his glory to pass by the 
place ; but that while it was passing, he would 
put him in a cleft of the rock, and there cover 
him with his hand, so that when the amazing 
splendour of his presence was passed he might 
see something which was less glorious than 
God's unveiled face. It is impossible to com- 
prehend the nature of this appearance, and it 
is diflicult to understand the peculiar meaning 
of this singular transaction. One of the most 
judicious writers on the Scriptures has said, 
" The transaction was doubtless emblematic. 
We can in this world only see the glory of God 
as reflected from his works, or as revealed in 
his word ; for the more direct display of his 
essential glory is reserved for heaven. The 
rock on which Moses stood, and in the cleft of 
which he was sheltered, was doubtless an em- 
blem of Christ, in whose person, character, and 
salvation alone, we sinners may, by faith, see 
the glory of God and live : for there it appears 
in softened splendour, as the sun when his 
brightness is diminished by a mist is beheld 
more distinctly by the human eye." 

After God had so far granted the prayer of 
Moses, as to promise that he should thus see 
some modified exhibition of his glory, he di- 
rected him to hew two tables of stone, similar 
to those which had been broken, and to take 
l them up into the mountain the next day, 
when he would write on them, a second time, 
M 



134 



THE LIFE OF MOSES 



the Ten Commandments. Moses did as he 
was commanded, and took the tables with 
him as he went up into the mountain. At 
this time God fulfilled the promise relative to 
his glory. And this is the circumstance as it 
is told in the sacred history : — " And the Lord 
descended in the cloud, and stood with him 
there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 
And the Lord passed by before him, and pro- 
claimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in 
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou- 
sands, forgiving iniquity and transgression 
and sin, and that will by no means clear the 
guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children, and upon the children's 
children, unto the third and to the fourth ge- 
neration." Ex. xxxiv. 5 — 7. 

This display of the glory of God produced 
its proper effect upon the mind and heart 
of Moses. He bowed his head and wor- 
shipped ; and then seized the opportunity of 
repeating his petition, that God would still 
bless the people by leading them to Canaan. 
This petition was granted ; and then the Lord 
gave him further directions as to his course 
of conduct in the government of Israel, and 
prescribed certain religious institutions, which 
were to be strictly attended to. These things 
Moses was directed to write, and the whole 
transaction was considered as the renewal of 
the covenant which had been broken. As he 



THE LIFE OF MOSES, 



135 



had done before, Moses continued on the 
mount forty days and forty nights, miracu- 
lously sustained without food or drink. 

When these forty days and nights were 
ended, Moses went once more down from the 
mount with the tables of the law in his hand ; 




and here we have recorded another emblematic 
circumstance which is remarkably curious and 
instructive. It was found that on the descent 
of Moses from the mount, the " skin of his 
face shone ;" that is, there was a peculiar 
brightness about it which made it difficult to 
look upon. We know, that if we attempt to 
look at the sun when he shines oat in bright- 
ness, our eyes would be so dazzled that we 
could not bear it, and so it is very difficult to 



136 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

look on any very white or bright object from 
which the rays of the sun are reflected. When 
the sun shines long on any object it imparts a 
brightness which does not belong to the object 
itself; so, in this case, Moses had been so long 
engaged in the contemplation of the Divine 
glory, that this glory was miraculously repre- 
sented to the people by the extreme brightness 
of his face. His countenance did not shine 
when he came down the first time from the 
mount ; but the reason of this is evident — he 
had not been then blessed with such bright 
displays of the glory of God, but during his 
second sojourn he had received large and 
clear discoveries of the glorious perfections cf 
the divine character; and thus the Lord put 
additional honour upon him before all the 
people. So bright and glorious was the ap- 
pearance of his face, that even Aaron was 
afraid to approach him, as if he had been 
some supernatural being. When Moses un- 
derstood the cause of their fear, he put a veil 
upon his face whenever he conversed with the 
people, but he took it off when he went into 
the tabernacle to commune with God. 

It would not be just to the subject to pass 
it over entirely without any remarks on its 
typical import, but we must of necessity be 
brief. By some of the most judicious writers, 
it was considered, 1st, that the veil on the 
face of Moses typified the darkness of the law 
compared with the noon-tide brightness of 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 137 

the gospel. " But if the ministration of death 
written and engraven in stones, was glorious, 
so that the children of Israel could not stead- 
fastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory 
of his countenance ; which glory was to be 
done away ; how shall not the ministration 
of the Spirit be rather glorious ? For if the 
ministration of condemnation be glory, much 
more doth the ministration of righteousness 
exceed in glory. For even tljat which was 
made glorious had no glory in this respect, 
by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if 
that which is done away was glorious, much 
more that which remaineth is glorious. See- 
ing then that we have such hope, we use 
great plainness of speech : And not as Moses, 
which put a veil over his face, that the chil- 
dren of Israel could not steadfastly look to 
the end of that which is abolished : But their 
minds were blinded : for until this day re- 
maineth the same veil untaken away in the 
reading of the Old Testament ; which veil is 
done away in Christ. But even unto this 
day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon 
their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn 
to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. 
Now the Lord is that spirit : and where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But 
we all, with open face beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by 
the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 7,-18. 
m2 



] 38 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

The veil on the face of Moses, 2dly, typi- 
fied, the ignorance of the Jews in relation to 
the spiritual character of their own lata. But 
as it is of much less importance that we should 
remark upon the case as it confines itself to 
the Jews, than as it may be made to serve a 
practical purpose for ourselves, we have to 
say that the veil of unbelief is not confined to 
the Jewish people. The natural, or uncon- 
verted man, whether he is a Jew or a Gen- 
tile, " discerneth not the things of the spirit 
of God." Multitudes go to church, and hear 
and read the truth of God, and thousands of 
Sunday-school scholars also hear and read 
of God's salvation, and yet see no beauty 
in the Saviour which can induce them to ac- 
cept him. The veil cannot be taken off, until 
our hearts turn to the Lord, and until we 
resign ourselves, in utter want of any other 
hope, to accept and embrace the great re- 
demption as a pure gift from heaven. Oh, 
let us examine whether it can be said of us, 
" Ye were once darkness, but now are ye 
light in the Lord." Let us hear individually 
the voice which cries to those who are dead 
in trespasses and sins, " Awake, thou that 
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ 
shall give thee light." If we are still in dark- 
ness, let us lift up our voice in prayer for 
light and faith. " Lord we believe, help thou 
our unbelief." Let us implore that " the eyes 
of our understanding may be enlightened." 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 139 

When the veil is taken off, the heart is sanc- 
tified ; and we become new creatures in Christ 
Jesus. 

There is another remarkable circumstance 
connected with this transaction. When Mo- 
ses went into the tabernacle, the veil was 
taken off, and he conversed with the Most 
High " face to face, as a man talketh with 
his friend." It has been universally admitted, 
that the tabernacle was a type of heaven. 
What, then, will be the blessed state of those 
who shall be admitted into the paradise above ? 
Even now, amidst all the brightness of the 
gospel dispensation, " we see through a glass 
darkly ;" but if we shall be so happy as to 
worship in the temple above, we shall see, 
" face to face." " Now Ave know only in 
part, but then shall we know even as we are 
known ;" for no cloud will hide the view of 
the Almighty from the eyes of the redeemed 
and glorified. Moses was made honourable 
in the sight of the children of Israel, by 
being permitted to converse with Jehovah 
upon Sinai ; but what shall be the glory of 
those who are prepared to dwell with God 
for ever ! Let us repent and believe the gos- 
pel ; let us submit our hearts to Jesus the Sa- 
viour, and then will he bring us, when time 
shall be no longer, to spend an eternity with 
him, where there shall be nothing to hide from 
us the full glories of his eternal presence. 



140 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The building of the tabernacle, and its con- 
secration.~God takes possession of it as 
his dwelling-place. — Moses receives the 
laws relating to the offerings.*— He is com- 
manded to consecrate Aaron and his sons 
to the priesthood. — Transgression and pa- 
nishment of Nadab and AJbihu, and others. 
—A variety of laws given.— ShelomitK ] s 
sin, stoned for blasphemy. 

The period in the history of Moses to 
which we have now reached, was probably 
the most active and busy term of his life, and 
yet one about which we can have least to say. 
We mean the period in which he was engaged 
in superintending the building of the taber- 
nacle. This was a task which God had 
assigned to him when he was in the mount, 
and there he received his orders as to the 
most minute circumstances connected with 
the building. God left nothing to human 
skill or contrivance in the plan of this taber- 
nacle ; and there can be no doubt that this 
was intended to typify, the perfection of all 
God's plans, and his determination that no 
human being should have any thing to boast 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 141 

of; like the work of redemption which is all 
of God, so that no flesh should glory in his 
presence. 

But, before the tabernacle could be built, 
materials were to be provided, and these ma- 
terials are specified. An enumeration of the 
articles is all that we can give : — gold and 
silver and brass ; blue, scarlet, purple, and 
fine linen ; goat's hair, ram's skins dyed red, 
badgers' skins, and a beautiful and durable 
wood then called Shittim wood, but now Aca- 
cia ; and oil and spices, for the preparation of 
sweet incense or perfume. Besides these 
there were to be onyx stones, and every va- 
riety of precious stones, for the purpose of 
adorning the vestments of the high priest. 
These things were brought in abundance by 
the people : the gold was supplied from their 
bracelets and earrings, or various ornaments ; 
and, in truth, all the articles which were 
needed were poured into the treasury of the 
Lord in the most willing profusion. These 
rich ornaments, &c, the people had received 
from the Egyptians when they were " thrust 
out" in haste ; and though they had, in their 
wickedness, wasted some of them in their de- 
sire to have the golden calf, yet now, as a 
testimony of their repentance for that sin, and 
their disposition to obey God, they dedicated 
all the rest to his service. Indeed, so much 
was brought, that at length the workmen had 
to tell Moses there was much more than 






142 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

enough, and Moses was obliged to restrain the 
people in their donations. 

How different from the conduct of Chris- 
tians in the present day : with what reluctance 
do they give to the cause of the Lord, and 
comparatively how little. God's cause in the 
world is to be advanced by the labours and 
sacrifices of his people, and yet his people do 
not seem to understand their duty nor their 
privilege. There is no single individual who 
calls himself a follower of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who does not owe every thing to God, 
and when God's cause needs a free and gene- 
rous contribution, he is ungrateful to God if 
he does not go to the full extent of his means 
to advance it. 

In this business of the building of the taber- 
nacle, every one of the Israelites was engaged. 
Those who had no gold or silver or other ar- 
ticles, gave their personal labour ; and we are 
told that those women, whose hearts were in- 
terested, contributed their proportion by spin- 
ning the goats' hair and the wool, and by the 
weaving and the sewing that were necessary. 
In the work of God none can innocently be 
idle. Those who have no money can use 
their influence with others; and those who 
have neither money nor influence can use the 
labour of their hands, and add the great assist- 
ance of their faithful prayers. No Christian 
can or will be idle or unfruitful if he would 
be safe ; for true love to God implies love for 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 143 

| the souls of others, and there can be no love 
for the souls of others where there is no 
labour, no sacrifices, no prayers in their be- 
half. 

The persons whom Moses employed as the 
head workmen, were pointed out to him by 
God himself, and they were, by the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, qualified to perform the 
work which was assigned them. The names 
of these men were Bezaleel, of the tribe of 
Judah, and Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan. 
Under them there was an immense number 
of inferior workmen employed ; but the whole 
of them derived a peculiar wisdom for then- 
work from God himself, for we are told that 
Moses not only called Bezaleel and Aholiab, 
but " every wise hearted man, in whose heart 
the Lord had put wisdom" The articles 
contributed by the people for the work were 
put into the hands of these men, and they 
went faithfully and zealously to work ; and 
in due time every thing was made without 

; the least variation from the pattern or model 
which God had shown Moses in the mount. 
When the whole work was finished, and re- 
viewed by Moses, he pronounced that all had 

i been done agreeably to the will of God, and 
gave to all the workmen his solemn bene- 

i diction. 

In the service of God no delays are to be 
made. No sooner was the work for the ta- 
bernacle done, than Moses proceeded to set it 



1 14 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

up. He had led the people of Israel out of 
Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month 
of their year. On the fiftieth day after that 
event the law was solemnly given. Moses 
then spent at least eighty days upon the 
mount, so, upon the lowest calculation, six 
months must have passed away before the 
work of the tabernacle was begun. It was 
set up on the first day of the first month of 
the second year ; it consequently leaves just 
about six months as the time in which the 
workmen were engaged in the preparation. 
During this time we hear of no murmurings, 
no discontents, which may teach us this valu- 
able lesson, that there is nothing better calcu- 
lated to keep us from discontent and sin, than 
to be zealously and steadily engaged in the 
work of God. 

No sooner was the tabernacle set up, than 
Moses, by solemn acts of worship, dedicated 
or consecrated it to the service and worship 
of God. He put the ark of the testimony, 
and the mercy seat, in their place between the 
cherubims ; he put the table of shew-bread in 
its appropriate position, and placed the loaves 
of bread upon it ; he put the golden candle- 
stick where he had been directed, and lighted 
the lamps which filled its branches ; he placed 
the golden altar in its situation, and offered 
sweet incense : he planted the altar of burnt 
ofFering, and offered sacrifices upon it. In- 
deed he left nothing undone which had been 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 145 

commanded; and he had the exalted satis- 
faction of finishing the work with the perfect 
approbation of his God. 

When Moses had made this solemn dedica- 
tion of the house, God was pleased to accept 
the offering, and to take the tabernacle as his 
own peculiar dwelling-place among the peo- 
ple : — " Then a cloud covered the tent of the 
congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled 
the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to 
enter into the tent of the congregation, because 
the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the 
Lord filled the tabernacle." Ex. xl. 34, 35. 

We now find a great change in the manner 
of God's communication with Moses. Instead 
of calling him up to the mount he called him 
into the tabernacle to receive his orders. 
Almost the whole of the book of Leviticus is 
taken up in the detail of those laws which re- 
lated to the worship and service, which, by 
way of distinction, are called the ecclesiastical 
laws, or laws which related to the Jewish 
people, as composing the church of God. In 
our history it would be out of place to go into 
a consideration of these laws ; and with a brief 
remark, that God chose Aaron to be the high 
priest, and established the priesthood in his 
family, we pass on to consider a very grievous 
act of rebellion against God, which grew out 
of the ambition and irreverence of the two 
eldest sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu. 

These two young men, for reasons which 
N 



146 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the sacred history does not distinctly explain, 
but which we are compelled to think arose 
out of a state nearly allied to intoxication, 
were guilty of a most grievous sin against the 
Lord. We ought not to charge them with 
intoxication, without at least having some to- 
lerable ground on which to build this opinion, 
but we think that a law which God made im- 
mediately following their punishment, shows 
in some degree what their crime was. God 
said to Aaron, "Do not drink wine nor strong 
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye 
go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest 
ye die : it shall be a statute for ever through- 
out your generations." Levit. x. 9. 

It is more than likely, that at the conclusion 
of the solemn dedication of the tabernacle, the 
whole people had feasted in token of their 
joy, and that Nadab and Abihu, having im- 
properly indulged themselves, were somewhat 
overcome by wine. This is the only way in 
which their strange and sinful conduct can be 
accounted for ; and it teaches us one very im- 
portant lesson, that there is no sin into which 
we may not be led, if we once depart from 
the strictest principles of temperance. The 
very least excitement of the system by the 
stimulus of liquor, at once destroys the judg- 
ment, and leads to all that is disgraceful and 
ruinous. 

But what was the sin which Nadab and 
Abihu committed ? We are told in the his- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 147 

tory, that they each of them took a censer, 
and put fire therein, and offered strange fire 
before the Lord. Now, to understand their 
sin, we must know that censers were vessels 
generally of brass, having holes at the bottom 
for the purpose of admitting air, that in these 
censers fire was first put, then incense on the 
fire, which was burned in the presence of 
God. The fire which was to be used on 
these occasions, was that taken from the great 
altar of burnt offerings, which fire God him- 
self had sent down from heaven. Now Na- 
dab and Abihu, acting without any orders 
from their father, Aaron, who was the high 
priest, and had the sole right to give direc- 
tions, took their censers, and without any 
consultation put ordinary fire into them, and 
in this way went and burned incense before 
the Lord. This presumptuous sin awakened 
at once the just indignation of the Lord, and 
he sent out fire from his presence and con- 
sumed them in a moment. All this appears 
to have been done so suddenly, that neither 
Moses nor Aaron had time to interfere. Had 
these rash young men taken one moment to 
consider what they were about, or had they 
consulted their father, Aaron, all the evil 
might have been avoided, but they were ex- 
cited, and impatient, and headstrong, and thus 
met the reward of all such dispositions, by 
experiencing that " the wages of sin is death." 
Let their dreadful fate be a warning to every 



148 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

young reader never to sin against the Lord — 
rashness, and inconsideration, and even in- 
temperance, will never excuse them, but he 
who sins must be punished, for this is God's 
declaration. 

There was one individual in whose heart 
this dreadful scene ' must have produced the 
most distressing feelings, Aaron, the father of 
the two unhappy and wicked young men. 
It is very painful to the heart of a parent to 
have a child or children cut off in the ordinary 
course of nature, but how much more distress- 
ing to have them suddenly cut off, and in the 
very act of transgressing against God. We 
here have reason to admire the resignation of 
Aaron. The punishment which God had 
inflicted on his sons was terrible, but just; 
and the sacred history tells us, " Aaron held 
his peace :" he made no complaints. It was 
the Lord's will, and he had nothing to say 
against it. Let every reader repent and turn 
to God, and then death will never overtake 
him unawares, or in a state of rebellion. 

After this dreadful transaction, Moses re- 
ceived from God many additional laws relating 
to the arrangements of the people, but none 
which it is necessary to mention in this his- 
tory, further than to name some of the most 
prominent, which were, laws relating to the 
kinds of food the people were permitted to 
eat; laws concerning the disease called le- 
prosy ; laws as to the great day of atonement 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 149 

and its various services ; laws relating to mar- 
riage ; laws concerning various feasts both 
annual and occasional ; and a repetition of the 
laws concerning idolatry. 

Before we conclude this chapter, however, 
we ought to mention another very striking 
instance of the anger of God against sin. The 
story is short, but full of valuable instruction. 

It appears that while they were in Egypt, 
a woman by the name of Shelomith, belong- 
ing to the tribe of Dan, had married an 
Egyptian, and their son had, with the mixed 
multitude, followed the Israelites when they 
left the land of Egypt. Some dispute arose 
between this man and one of the Israelites, 
and they appear to have tried to end their 
dispute by a battle, as many wicked per- 
sons have done since their time. As one sin 
most generally paves the way for another, 
this son of Shelomith blasphemed the name 
of the Lord: he swore, and thus took the 
name of the Lord in vain — a sin of the most 
awful and aggravated character. Those who 
heard him, brought him at once to Moses, 
and Moses, as there had no law yet been 
made, defining or fixing the punishment which 
was due to blasphemy, ordered him to be put 
under guard until he could inquire the will of 
the Lord in the matter. When he did this, 
God directed that the 'blasphemer should be 
taken without the boundaries of the camp, 
and that all who had heard the blasphemy 
2 N 



150 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

should lay their hands on the head of the 
man, in token that their testimony was true, 
and as signifying that his sin was upon his 
own head. When this was done he was to 
be stoned to death. This crime was the oc- 
casion of the following law, which was ever 
afterwards in force among the Jews as long 
as they continued a nation. " And he that 
blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall 
surely be put to death, and all the congrega- 
tion shall certainly stone him : as well the 
stranger, as he that is born in the land, when 
he blasphemeth the nume of the Lord, shall 
he be put to death." Leyit. xxiv. 16. Ac- 
cording to the command of God this wicked 
son of Shelomith was stoned to death, as the 
just punishment of his blasphemy. 

How many there are who are in the habit 
of using the name of God in profane swear- 
ing. This is blasphemy, and will be most 
dreadfully visited. What enmity against God 
must be in the heart of an individual, when 
curses and blasphemies against God proceed 
out of his mouth. And if he who despised 
Moses' law died without mercy under two 
or three witnesses, of what punishment shall 
they be thought worthy or deserving who 
despise and abuse the gospel of the Son of 
God ? Let us, then, learn to avoid all anger 
and fighting, and to reverence the holy name 
of God : knowing that not only liars, and 
drunkards, and thieves, and murderers, but 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 151 

that also all swearers shall have their portion 
in that lake which burnetii for ever. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Moses, at the command of God, numbers the 
people. — Directed as to the method of their 
encampment.'— Leaves the wilderness of 
Sinai. >~Hob al. — The people complain.— 
Moses' faith is staggered. — Quails sent in 
anger. — Transgression of Miriam and 
Aaron. 

About one month after the setting up of 
the tabernacle, God ordered Moses to enter 
upon the task of numbering the people, and 
appointed one principal person out of each 
tribe to assist him. This numbering embraced 
only those who were twenty years old and 
upward ; the women and children, and pro- 
bably very old men, together with the mixed 
multitude, were omitted. The purpose of 
their being numbered is generally supposed 
to have been to prove that the word of God 
was true in relation to the great increase of 
the seed of Jacob, and also to prepare the 
way for their regular march and encampments, 
as they were soon to depart from Sinai. The 



152 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

number amounted to six hundred and three 
thousand, five hundred and fifty-five effective 
men. 

As God intended that the people should 
speedily remove from Sinai, he directed the 
order in which they should march and en- 
camp. They were to encamp in four grand 
divisions, having the tabernacle in the centre. 
" The tribe of Judah, from which Christ 
sprang, took the highest station, and under it 
were ranked the tribes of Issachar and Zebu- 
lun, the younger brothers of Judah by the 
same mother. The tribe of Reuben was ap- 
pointed to lead the second division, and under 
it the tribes of Simeon and Gad. The three 
tribes descended from Rachel formed the third 
division ; and the remaining three tribes the 
fourth division. There was a little variation 
when they marched. When the people were 
encamped, one division of the people was 
placed on each quarter over against the taber- 
nacle ; but when they marched, two divisions 
went before and two behind it. 

After some additional laws and regulations 
had been made, which are found recorded in 
the first nine chapters of the book of Num- 
bers, God gave the signal for the marching 
of the people. This event occurred on the 
twentieth day of the second month of the se- 
cond year of their departure from Egypt. 
They had now been very nearly one year en- 
camped in the wilderness of Sinai, where they 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 153 

had seen the most wonderful displays of the 
power and glory of God, and where every 
thing had been arranged relating to their fu- 
ture prosperity, both as a people and a church. 
They had no doubt received intimations to be 
in readiness to march, and then, on the day 
before spoken of, God gave the signal, by the 
rising up of the cloud, which had hitherto 
rested on the tabernacle ; and they commenced 
their journey in the order previously appointed. 
It will, of course, be impossible for us to enter 
into all the minute circumstances connected 
with their journeyings, but we hope to omit 
no important matter which serves in any way 
to illustrate the character of Moses. 

Previous, however, to their departure from 
Sinai, a very interesting scene took place be- 
tween Moses and his relation Hobab. As 
they were about to go to the land of Canaan, 
Moses appears to have been particularly anx- 
ious that Hobab should go with them, and he 
uses the most tender and touching language 
of invitation : — " We are journeying," says 
he, "to the place of which the Lord said 
unto us, I will give it you. Come thou with 
us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord 
hath spoken good concerning Israel." Hobab 
appears to have received this kind offer rather 
uncourteously, and says, " I will not go, but 
I will depart to mine own country and my 
kindred." Moses was not discouraged by 
.this repulse, and says to him, still more ur- 






154 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

gently, " leave us not I pray thee ;" and then 
to give an additional weight to his entreaty, 
he tells Hobab how useful he might be to 
them by his knowledge of the wilderness. 
We are inclined to think that the importunity 
of Moses at length prevailed ; for we find that 
the posterity of Hobab had a possession as- 
signed to them in the land of Canaan. 

The conduct of Moses on this occasion is 
a lovely instance of the tender concern which 
he had for the welfare of his friends ; and it 
ought to teach all those who love the Lord, 
how much might be accomplished if they 
would only wisely and tenderly press the 
claims of religion on their relatives and friends. 
How can Ave be content, that those whom we 
love should remain in their sins, while we 
leave any thing undone to draw them to 
religion ? Let us urge and entreat them : let 
us show them by our own temper and conduct 
the influence of divine truth, and let us pray 
for them without ceasing. How happy will 
it make us, if our friends and their families, 
through our instrumentality, find a possession 
in the heavenly Canaan. This may be done 
if we are faithful. 

From this happy and interesting circum- 
stance we turn to one of a most melancholy 
description. For some reasons not mentioned 
in the history, we are told that the people 
murmured against the Lord ; and again they 
were severely punished. But hardly had the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 155 

punishment ceased before there was another 
dissatisfaction, on account of their not having 
flesh to eat. They expressed themselves tired 
of being compelled to eat the manna ; and 
with a spirit of undutiful ingratitude, contrasted 
the food which they had enjoyed in Egypt 
with the food which God had so miraculously 
and bountifully given them. They chose to 
forget, that though they ate fish from the river 
Nile, and had plenty of vegetables and fruit, 
they were all the time in a state of dreadful 
slavery, and subject to the hardest work, and 
the most excessive cruelty ; even to having 
their children taken from them and murdered. 
But so it is ; when our desires are not at once 
gratified, we are apt to overvalue former 
blessings, and undervalue present mercies. 
In every way which could be imagined, the 
situation of the Israelites was far superior to 
what it had been in Egypt — they had God 
for their leader and protector, and had enough 
to eat and drink. But nothing would satisfy 
but meat ; and because their desire, or lust as 
the history calls it, was not satisfied, they 
complain against the Lord. 

It is here that we have the first instance in 
which the faith of Moses seemed to fail : he 
was not only displeased with the people, but 
he addressed himself to God in a discontented 
spirit, and without reflecting by whose power 
he acted, and under whose protection he was, 
he asks, in a tone of irritation, " Whence 



156 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

should / have flesh to give unto all this peo- 
ple ;" and even begged that he might die. 
This cannot be excused. God had never ex- 
pected him to supply the people with food ; 
and what right had he to wish to relinquish 
the situation in which God had placed him ? 
But the Lord had a work to do by Moses, 
and he did not immediately punish this failure 
of his confidence, and this improper indulgence 
of a complaining disposition. He appointed 
seventy men of the elders of the congregation 
to assist him in the discharge of his arduous 
duties, and promised to gratify the wishes of 
the people. Yes, God promised to gratify 
the wishes of the people ; but this very gra- 
tification was intended as their punishment. 
How little do we know what is for our best 
interest, and there can be no doubt that the 
very granting of our requests for temporal 
mercies, if they are made in a spirit of discon- 
tent with what we already have, would do us 
incalculable injury. 

How many examples do we see of this. 
A man in moderate circumstances becomes 
unhappy in his situation, and desires to be 
rich and increased with goods. By and by 
he becomes rich ; and what does he find ? 
that his happiness is increased ? No : he finds 
that with his increasing riches he has increas- 
ing troubles and increasing cares ; and that 
what he had supposed would be for his hap- 
piness turns out for his misery. There could 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 157 

no greater evil happen to any man, than that 
God should grant him his foolish desires. It 
is among the mercies of God to those who 
love him, that he withholds from them what- 
ever would be hurtful, for we are so short- 
sighted that we never know what would ad- 
vance our greatest good. Let us love God, and 
serve him, and then we are sure that nothing 
can happen but for our advantage ; for it is the 
declaration of the word of God, that " all 
things work together for good to those who 
love God ;" and even the very afflictions of 
life are among the blessings which true be- 
lievers experience at the hand of God ; for he 
says, our light afflictions which are but for 
a moment, work out for us a far more exceed- 
ing an,d eternal weight of glory, while we 
look not at the things which are seen, but 
at the things which are not seen ; that is 
spiritual and heavenly things. 

But to return to the history. ■ God sent 
upon the people of Israel quails, in such 
abundance, that they lay scattered for twenty 
miles round the camp in every direction, and 
to the depth of two cubits ; and so eager were 
the people, that they spent two days in col- 
lecting them. They then spread them about to 
dry, so. that they might keep the longer. The 
whole conduct of the people shows that they 
were resolved on the indulgence of their ap- 
petites ; and just like all persons who give way 
to improper indulgence, either in eating or 

Q 



158 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

drinking, they suffered for it dreadfully. No 
sooner had they begun to eat the quails, which 
they did, with a voracious appetite, than the 
anger of God fell upon them. We are told 
that he brought upon them a great plague ; 
but what that plague was we are not told. 
Whatever it was, there was an immense de- 
struction among the people, so much so that 
the place where they buried those who died 
of that plague was called Kibroth hattavah, 
which means the graves of lust. And thus 
what they desired, and what they murmured 
after, when it was given proved the occasion 
of their destruction. Let us learn, that God 
can punish as well by plenty as by scarcity ; 
and it will often happen that those things 
after which men have lusted, become their 
torment and their death. Whence come most 
of the diseases to which we are subject? 
Come they not even of luxury and debauchery, 
and intemperance in eating and drinking? 
Indeed, if we except a few cases, every grave 
is a grave of lust, and there might be, as an 
incription, put up over the gate of every bury- 
ing-ground— Kibroth Hattavah. 

About this time a very singular circumstance 
took place, which shows the noble and disin- 
terested spirit of Moses. Among the seventy 
elders whom God had appointed to assist Mo- 
ses, there were two, named Eldad and Medad, 
who being particularly influenced by the 
spirit of God so to do, began to prophecy, or, 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 159 

as it here means, to preach in the camp ; no 
doubt calling the people to repent of their 
sins, and turn from their rebellions. Some 
young man, whose name is not mentioned, 
ran and told Moses what these men were 
doing, and Joshua, whoAvas present when the 
information was given, advised that they 
should be stopped or silenced. He was, no 
doubt, influenced by an earnest zeal for the 
honour of Moses ; and was under the impres- 
sion, that if these men were permitted to go 
on, they might gain an influence with the 
people which might be turned to the disad- 
vantage of Moses. But Moses thought far 
otherwise. His only object was to seek the 
glory of God, and he told Joshua not to be 
alarmed on his account, for that he wished all 
the people of the Lord were prophets : holy 
and devoted to God. The true people of 
God are every one of them, in a certain sense, 
prophets or preachers of the gospel ; for 
though they do not go into pulpits, as those 
who are public ministers, and there preach 
the unsearchable riches of Christ, yet they 
preach Christ by their lives, according to the 
exhortation of our blessed Lord, " Let your 
light so shine before men, that they may see 
your good works, and glorify your Father 
who is in heaven." 

The trait in the character of Moses, or that 
disposition of his mind which was manifested 
in this transaction, was a noble disinterested* 



160 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

ness. He did not care any thing about his 
own popularity so long as the glory of God 
could be advanced. He appears much like 
John the Baptist, who said, in reference to 
Christ, " He must increase, but I must de- 
crease." 

But the next circumstance which is men- 
tioned in the history, is one which perhaps 
was the most painful which ever occurred to 
Moses in his private capacity. Often, very 
often, had he been cut to the heart by the in- 
gratitude and rebellion of the people, because 
the honour of God was concerned ; but here 
we have a difficulty of a family nature ; a kind 
of domestic quarrel, in which his dear brother 
Aaron and his sister Miriam were the aggres- 
sors, and his wife the subject. We do not know 
all the circumstances of the case : all we know 
is, that Aaron and Miriam spake against Mo- 
ses in relation to Zipporah, his wife. What 
the ground of objection was we are not in- 
formed, and it would be vain to conjecture. 
But nothing could excuse the rebellion and 
unkindness of Miriam and Aaron on this oc- 
casion. 

When persons are heated with anger, they 
seldom confine themselves to the subject of 
the original quarrel, but go on, from subject 
to subject, till they have vented all their ill 
humour. It appears that Miriam and Aaron, 
not content with quarreling with Moses about 
his wife, insinuated that he took too much 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 161 

upon himself, as the Lord had spoken to the 
people by them as well as by him. 

To this charge Moses answered nothing 1 . 
The sacred history tells us that he was the 
meekest man on the earth, and every one who 
is at all acquainted with his life, knows that this 
was the case from the many instances which 
are recorded in which it was exhibited. But 
though on the present occasion Moses was 
entirely silent, and left his cause in the hands 
of God, he was fully vindicated. God sud- 
denly spoke to him, and ordered that he, and 
Aaron, and Miriam, should go to the door of 
the tabernacle. When there, God told them 
that it was his pleasure thus particularly to 
distinguish his servant Moses ; and he asks 
why they were not afraid to speak against 
him. Then the anger of the Lord was kin- 
dled against them, and the cloud arose from 
the tabernacle in token of the departure of 
God. No sooner was this done, than Aaron 
looked on Miriam, and found that God had 
punished her by afflicting her with leprosy. 

Astonished and alarmed he appealed to Mo- 
ses, and begged that he would intercede for 
them. It is here that the character of Moses ap- 
peals in one of its most lovely aspects. Though 
he had been deeply injured, both on his wife's 
account, and by having insinuations thrown 
upon himself, he forgot and forgave it all. 
Without one moment's hesitation, he presented 
himself before the Lord, and prayed for his 
o 2 



162 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

offending sister, and for his sake God forgave 
and healed her. What a beautiful illustration 
of those many exhortations of our Saviour, 
which enjoin the forgiveness of injuries ; and 
not only their forgiveness, but that we should 
strive, by every means in our power, to do 
good to those who hate us, and to pray for 
those who despitefully use us and persecute 
us. We can mention but a single case :— 

" Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord 
how oft shall my brother sin against me, and 
I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus saith 
unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven 
times ; but, until seventy times seven. There- 
fore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a 
certain king, which would take account of his 
servants. And when he had begun to reckon, 
one was brought unto him which owed him 
ten thousand talents: But forasmuch as he 
had not to pay, his lord commanded him to 
be sold, and his wife and children, and all that 
he had, and payment to be made. The ser- 
vant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, 
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I 
will pay thee all. Then the lord of that ser- 
vant was moved with compassion, and loosed 
him, and forgave him the debt. But the same 
servant went out, and found one of his fellow- 
servants which owed him an hundred pence ; 
and he laid hands on him, and took him by 
the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest. 
And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 163 

and besought him, saying, have patience 
with me, and I will pay thee all. And he 
would not ; but went and cast him into prison, 
till he should pay the debt. So when his 
fellow-servants saw what was done, they 
were very sorry, and came and told unto their 
lord all that was done. Then his lord, after 
that he had called him, said unto him, O thou 
wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, 
because thou desiredst me : Shouldest not 
thou also have had compassion on thy fellow- 
servant, even as I had pity on thee ? And 
his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the 
tormentors, till he should pay all that was 
due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly 
Father do also unto you, if ye from your 
hearts forgive not every oue his brother their 
trespasses." Matt, xviii. 21—35. 






164 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Spies sent to examine Canaan. — Character 
of Joshua and Caleb. — The people mur- 
mur at the report of the spies.— Are ex- 
cluded from Canaan, and doomed to 
wander in the wilderness. — The Sabbath 
breaker stoned. — Rebellion of Korah and 
his company. 

At the time which our history now con- 
templates, Moses had led the people to the 
very horder of the land of Canaan, and had 
not something here occurred which provoked 
the Lord to anger, they might have taken 
possession of the land at once. We learn 
from what Moses says, in the first chapter of 
Deuteronomy, that the people suggested to 
him the idea of sending spies to search out 
the land, and he, not suspecting that it was 
their unbelief which induced them to suggest 
such a thing, was led to approve their propo- 
sal, and to consult the Lord on the matter. 
There was evidently no kind of necessity for 
sending spies to search out the land, because 
as God had promised that they should possess 
it, all they had to do was to put implicit con- 
fidence in Him who had never in one single 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 165 

instance deceived them. God seems to have 
permitted this also to punish their unbelief, 
for the very searching of the land, instead of 
removing their unbelieving fears, increased 
them, and proved the occasion of their actual 
exclusion from it. 

The persons who were sent as spies were 
pointed out by God himself to Moses. One 
was taken from each tribe, and such persons 
were taken as were distinguished among the 
people. There were only two of them who 
are particularly distinguished in the future 
history, Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of the 
tribe of Judah, and Joshua the son of Nun, 
belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. 

As soon as these twelve men were appoint- 
ed, Moses gave them their special orders. 
They were to commence at the southern part 
of the land, and go north, to the mountains, 
and then return through another section. 
They were required to ascertain what sort of 
people inhabited the various parts ; whether 
they were strong or weak, and what were 
their numbers. They were to examine, as 
well as they were able, the kind and quality 
of the land, whether fruitful or unproductive. 
They were to notice whether the country 
was well wooded. They were to be particu- 
lar in ascertaining whether the people dwelt 
in tents or in strong holds ; that is, walled 
cities. And, as a final direction, Moses told 
them to bring back some specimen of the 



166 



THE LITE OF MOSES. 



fruits of the land. The season was favourable 
for this, as it was the time of the first ripe 
grapes. 

The spies obeyed the directions given ; and 
on their return, when they had reached the 
brook called JEshcol, they cut down a branch 
with a bunch of grapes so large that two men 
Avere compelled to carry it. Thy slung it 
over a pole, and either carried it thus in their 
hands, or rested the ends of the pole on their 




shoulders. They also brought figs and pome- 
granates. The spies were occupied in their 
business forty days, and they were miraculous- 
ly protected by God ; for it is surprising 
that the Canaanites did not suspect their bu- 
siness. At the end of the forty days, how- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 167 

ever, they returned in safety, and made their 
report. 

It appears that ten out of the twelve spies 
were of a cowardly and rebellious and discon- 
tented disposition. They reported that the 
land was very fruitful, but they said that the 
people were strong, and that their cities were 
walled, and that they saw the gigantic de- 
scendants of Anak. Caleb and Joshua saw 
what was likely to be the effect produced on 
the people by this representation ; and they 
endeavoured to counteract the evil which this 
account would naturally produce. Caleb en- 
deavoured to encourage the people, by saying 
that there was no difficulty ; that though their 
cities were walled, and the people warlike, 
they had God with them, and, consequently, 
could easily conquer. But the other ten con- 
tradicted him, and repeated their conviction 
that the Israelites would never be able to 
stand before them. Besides this, not content 
with exaggerating the truth, and making every 
thing appear as bad as they could, they de- 
scended to tell a lie, and stated that the 
climate was very unhealthy, and that the 
inhabitants were so monstrous that they them- 
selves appeared like grasshoppers in compa- 
rison. 

This evil report had the effect of setting 
the people to crying, just like children, when 
they are afraid or disappointed ; and they fell 
again into their old sin of murmuring against 



168 THE LIFE OF MOSES 

• - 

God. With a most ungrateful and rebellious 
spirit, they wished that they had died in 
Egypt, or that they had died in the wilder- 
ness ; and, with the most daring impiety, 
charged God with having brought them out 
of Egypt for the very purpose of destruction. 
These rebellious and wicked feelings led them 
to declare that they would forsake God as 
their leader, and Moses and Aaron, and make 
them a captain, and then return to Egypt. 
Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in prayer 
and supplication for the people, and Joshua 
and Caleb tried, by every means of persua- 
sion, to put a stop to the rebellion, but all in 
vain. The people even went so far as to 
threaten to stone these truly valuable and 
righteous men. 

All these things brought on a crisis in their 
history which is of the most melancholy cha- 
racter. The glory of the Lord appeared, and 
God told Moses of his determination to punish 
them severely, by utterly disinheriting them. 
As was his custom under such circumstances 
Moses resorts to prayer, and so far succeeded in 
his petition that God did not disinherit the peo- 
ple, but as they had filled up the measure of 
their iniquity by this last and most wicked re- 
bellion, he pronounced a sentence against them 
of the most severe and dreadful character. 
They had impiously wished that they had died 
in the wilderness :*— " Say unto them, As truly 
as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 169 

in mine ears, so will I do to you : Your car- 
cases shall fall in this wilderness ; and all 
that were numbered of you, according to your 
whole number, from twenty years old and 
upward, which have murmured against me, 
doubtless ye shall not come into the land, 
concerning which I sware to make you dwell 
therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and 
Joshua the son of Nun." Numb. xiv. 28 — 30. 
Here we find that, in consequence of this sin, 
though they were now on the very borders 
of Canaan, every individual among them who 
was twenty years of age and upwards when 
they came out of Egypt, was doomed to die 
in the wilderness, and never enjoy the bless- 
ings of the land of Canaan. This was a most 
dreadful but just termination of their series of 
rebellions. Forty years more were they to 
wander in the wilderness till every one of 
that rebellious generation was dead. Oh, how 
terrible is the righteous judgment of God. 
Let us fear his displeasure, and flee to the 
cross of Christ for pardon and salvation. 

From this sentence of exclusion from Ca- 
naan, we have seen there were two exceptions 
—Joshua and Caleb ; and these exceptions 
were made because they had brought a fa- 
vourable account of the land, and strove with 
all their might and influence to prevent the 
rebellion of the people. The character of 
Joshua we know from the whole history, for a 
very distinguished and faithful servant of God. 

P 



170 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

Of Caleb we do not know so much, because 
lie was less conspicuous in the history, but 
God himself has seen fit to draw his character 
in the very strongest terms, when he says, 
" My servant, Caleb, has followed me fully." 
What greater evidence can be given of the ex- 
cellence of his religious character : it implied, 
that he had faithfully discharged the duty to 
which he had been appointed, and was ready 
for any service, no matter how difficult or 
dangerous, if it would only advance the 
honour of the Lord ; that he relied implicitly 
on the promises of God, and went forward in 
the way of his duty with patience and forti- 
tude and perseverance. What a truly fine 
character. Such as these shall surely inherit 
the blessings of the heavenly Canaan. 

" And they rose up early in the morning, and 
gat them up into the top of the mountain, 
saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto 
the place which the Lord hath promised : for 
we have sinned. And Moses said, Where- 
fore now do ye transgress the commandment 
of the Lord ? but it shall not prosper. Go 
not up, for the Lord is not among you ; that 
ye be not smitten before your enemies. For 
the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there 
before you, and ye shall fall by the sword : 
because ye are turned away from the Lord, 
therefore the Lord will not be with you. But 
they presumed to go up unto the hill-top : 
nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 171 

Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the 
camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and 
the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and 
smote them, and discomfited them, even unto 
Hormah." Numb, xiv; 40. — 45. 

We must go back one moment. The very 
day God pronounced on the people the sen- 
tence that none of that generation should ever 
reach the land of Canaan, he gave them or 
ders to turn back from the borders of the pro- 
mised land towards the eastern, or what is 
called the Elanetic gulf of the Red Sea; and 
in the very wilderness through part of which 
they had already once passed, wander up and 
down as he should lead them, till, some by 
one kind of death, and some by another, the 
whole generation that came out of Egypt 
should be dead, and none left to inherit Ca- 
naan but those who were under twenty years 
of age, and the children who should be born 
in the meantime. The apostle Paul tells us, 
and the whole history of the people of Israel 
confirms it, that " it is a fearful thing to fall 
into the hands of the living God." 

Agreeably to the direction of God, Moses 
now led the people back from the borders of 
Canaan ; and in the wilderness they wandered 
from station to station for nearly thirty-eight 
years, of which no particular account is given 
us in the history. In the life of Moses, then, 
we have a blank of about thirty-eight years, 
in relation to which there are no sources of 



172 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

information. We have, in the thirty-third 
chapter of the book of Numbers, the names 
of the different places at which they encamped, 
but how long they staid at each, or what oc- 
curred, the Scriptures do not inform us, and con- 
sequently we must be entirely silent. There 
are only two incidents which are particularly 
mentioned, and one of these is intended to 
convince us of the jealousy of God for the 
honour of his own law. We shall give it in 
the language of Scripture, with but one or 
two additional observation : — " And while 
the children of Israel were in the wilderness, 
they found a man that gathered sticks upon 
the Sabbath day. And they that found him 
gathering sticks, brought him unto Moses and 
Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And 
they put him in ward, because it was not de- 
clared what should be clone to him. And the 
Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be 
surely put to death : all the congregation shall 
stone him with stones without the camp. 
And all the congregation brought him without 
the camp, and stoned him with stones, and 
he died ; as the Lord commanded Moses." 
Numb. xv. 32 — 36. 

We here very distinctly perceive God's 
determination that his Sabbath day was to be 
kept holy ; and that no single departure could 
pass unpunished. It might be thought a very 
little thing to gather a few sticks on the Sab- 
bath day, but nothing is little which violates 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 173 

a command of God. So we may think it a 
small thing to take a walk for pleasure, or 
make a visit of mere ceremony, or take a 
journey, or to attend to our business when 
very much pressed, but we forget all the 
while that each of these small things dis- 
honours the law of God, and is sinful in his 
sight. • 

The only other circumstance which is men- 
tioned in Scripture, as occurring during the 
period of their thirty-eight years' wandering in 
the wilderness, is the dreadful rebellion of 
Korah, Dathan, and Mir am, who, with two 
hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, 
" gathered themselves together against Moses, 
and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye 
take too much upon you, seeing all the con- 
gregation are holy, every one of them, and 
the Lord is among them : wherefore then lift 
ye up yourselves above the congregation of 
the Lord ?" This, however, like all the other 
instances of opposition to the authority of 
Moses and Aaron, had a tendency to confirm 
that authority ; and, to add greatly to the 
honour which God had put upon them. As 
on similar occasions, so on this, the only de- 
fence which Moses resorted to against the 
evil insinuations and rebellion of these men, 
was an appeal to God in prayer, humbly seek- 
ing direction and assistance. When he had 
done this on the present occasion, he pro- 
ceeded calmly to argue with these infatuated 
p2 



174 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

men ; and finding that they were not willing 
to listen to reason, he was obliged to tell them 
that God would take the matter into his own 
hand, and he predicted that Koran and his 
company would be destroyed by what we call 
an earthquake. He told them that he would 
rest the truth of his pretensions on this very 
tiling, and directed them to appear before the 
Lord, on the morrow, with their censers in 
their hands, and let the matter be decided by 
God himself, between him and Aaron on the 
one side, and them on the other. With most 
daring presumption the two hundred and fifty 
men came with their censers, and Korah and 
Dathan and Abiram, with those whom they 
influenced, stood in the door of their tents to 
see the issue of this contest. All at once the 
glory of the Lord shone conspicuously, and 
God told Moses to go immediately and exhort 
the people to separate themselves from Korah 
and his company, and the most of the congre- 
gation did so : they left these wicked men 
with a few adherents, and their own families, 
and silently waited to see what would be 
done. No sooner had the great mass of the 
congregation separated themselves from these 
men, than there was an earthquake : the 
ground opened under the tents of Korah, Da- 
than, and Abiram, and they and all that con- 
tinued with them, were swallowed up alive. 
And no sooner was this done, than fire came 
out from the Lord and consumed the two 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



175 



hundred and fifty men that presumed, contrary 
to the command of God to offer incense 




It would have been supposed that so dread- 
ful and wonderful an instance of the wrath of 
God would at least have kept the people from 
rebellion for a little time ; but strange as it 
may appear, on the very next day, they ac- 
cused Moses and Aaron of destroying those 
who perished, and this again brought on 
themselves the anger of God. A plague broke 
out among the people, and though Moses and 
Aaron hasted to offer an atonement for the 
people, before Aaron had time to get a censer, 
and put lire and incense on it, no less than 
fourteen thousand seven hundred of the rebels 
had perished. It is dreadful to contemplate 



176 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

the rebellions of this people, and it is melan- 
choly to think how little the judgments of 
God affected them. But such is the conduct 
of sinners in every age ; mercies and judgments 
fail to reform them. What an awful scene 
will take place at the day of judgment, when 
all the wicked of every generation shall be 
cast into hell, there to suffer the vengeance 
of eternal lire. Oh, let us repent and flee 
to Jesus, who will be to us a refuge from 
the storm of God's most righteous indigna- 
tion. 

As a part of the rebellion of Korah had been 
in relation to the right of Aaron and his sons 
to execute the oflice of the priesthood, God 
saw fit finally to settle that matter by a mira- 
cle. He directed that Moses should take 
twelve rods, and write on each rod the name 
of the prince of the tribe to which its owner 
belonged, and on the rod which was for the 
tribe of Levi to write the name of Aaron. 
These rods were then to be placed in the ta- 
bernacle before the ark of the testimony, and 
the choice of God was to be ascertained by 
the rod which blossomed. All this was done, 
and the next day, when the rods were brought 
forth, it was discovered that the rod of the 
tribe of Levi, which had the name of Aaron 
upon it, not only budded and. blossomed, but 
actually bore almonds. This decided the 
service of the tabernacle to be in the tribe 
of Levi, and the priesthood in the family of 






THE LIFE OF MOSES 177 

Aaron ; and we never afterwards hear of this 
being questioned, though the people fell into 
other rebellions. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Death of Miriam, — Sin of Moses and Aaron, 
with their punishment. — Death of Aaron. 
— Moses opposed by king Arad. — Murmur- 
ing of the people, and plague of fiery ser- 
pents. — Brazen serpent. — Sihon and Og 
conquered. 

It was mentioned in the last chapter, that 
during a period of thirty-seven or thirty-eight 
years we have very little account of the wan- 
derings of the Israelites, and of course that 
there is a corresponding blank in the history 
of Moses. There can be little doubt but that 
he spent that long period in comparative en- 
joyment, and that the people were much less 
addicted to the sins of rebellion and murmur- 
ing than they had been in the first year or 
eighteen months after they left the land of 
Egypt. During this period of thirty-seven or 
thirty-eight years, the sentence which God 
had pronounced upon the people, that they 
should wander in the wilderness until all those 
who were twenty years old and upwards, 



178 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

when they left the land of Egypt, had perished, 
was now nearly fulfilled ; and they again ap- 
proached the borders of the promised land. 
While they were encamped at a place called 
Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, (not the 
same places which, under nearly the same 
names, are mentioned before) Moses was 
called upon to bear an afflictive dispensation 
in the death of his sister Miriam, who died at 
the age of one hundred and thirty years, and 
was buried in Kadesh. 

We come now to what may well be consi- 
dered the most melancholy portion of our his- 
tory. Shortly after the death of Miriam, we 
find that the water, with which the people had 
been supplied, completely failed. This, as 
they were now on the borders of the promised 
land, God no doubt permitted, in order to try 
the faith of the people ; and, alas ! they proved 
that in their hearts they were still like their 
fathers : they had not yet learned to put their 
confidence in God. They once more mur- 
mured against God, and against Moses. On 
this, as on all other occasions Moses thought 
only of resorting to God for direction, and God 
gave him plain and explicit commands. Those 
commands were to take his rod ; to assemble 
the people; and to speak to the rock which 
was before them. Until this time, amidst all 
the rebellions of the people, Moses had been 
faithful, and had in no respect disobeyed the 
direct and positive commands of God. But 






THE LIFE OF MOSES. 179 



on this occasion he did fail ; and though the 
Scripture account of it is short, it is long 
enough to let us see the frailty of man, and 
the terrible justice of God. Instead of only 
speaking to the rock, as God had done, Mo- 
ses smote it twice : water came out to relieve 
the necessities of the people, but this one act 
of disobedience brought on him the anger of 
a pure and holy God, whose commands must 
be obeyed. We will try to give as good an 
account of this melancholy affair as the brevity 
of the history will allow us. 

It would appear that when Moses went out 
to obey the command of God, he was certainly 
under the influence of some most improper 
feeling towards the people. Whatever the 
feeling was, it produced the most disastrous 
results. From all that occurred, we should be 
afraid that by his long and quiet rule over the 
people, he had been a little lifted up with 
pride, and that as there had been very little 
murmuring or rebellion for nearly thirty-eight 
years, he became angry at the people for the 
disrespect which they showed him. Pride 
and anger lead to improper speaking. We 
think that all this can be discovered in the 
history. " Ye rebels," said he ; a very im- 
proper method of address, and which shows 
that he was in a state of undue excitement of 
temper; and then, lifted up for the moment by 
a conceit of his own superiority, and forgetting 
his dependance upon God, he said, " must 



180 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

we bring you water out of this rock ?" This 
was at once a failure to ascribe the glory to 
God, and is called by God himself both un- 
belief and irreverence ; for thus spake the 
Lord, " Ye believed me not to sanctify me 
in the eyes of the children of Israel." Thus, 
anger, unbelief, and want of reverence, appear 
to have constituted the sin of Moses, for he 
called them rebels, and he smote the rock 
twice when he was not told to do it at all, 
and he said we when he ought to have said 
God. For this transgression Moses was ex- 
cluded from the land of Canaan ; and like the 
rest of the generation which came out of 
Egypt, he, too, was to die in the wilderness ; 
a monument of the holiness of that God who 
cannot look upon the least sin without the 
utmost abhorrence. That Moses and Aaron 
repented, in great bitterness of sorrow of 
this sin, which had thus withdrawn from 
them the favour of God, there can be no ques- 
tion, and God forgave them, and blotted out 
their iniquity, so that they died in peace, and 
in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection 
to eternal glory ; but God did not see fit to 
revoke his sentence as to their exclusion from 
the earthly Canaan, and so, though Moses 
saw it from Mount Nebo, as we shall discover 
in the subsequent chapters, yet his feet never 
entered it. Oh, how terrible is even one sin. 
We have all reason to pray, — God be merciful 
to us sinners. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 181 

Moses, though he found himself excluded 
from Canaan, did not permit his zeal to relax 
in the cause of God and of his people. Be- 
tween the place of their encampment and the 
land of Canaan, there lay the territory of the 
Edomites, or descendants of Esau, and Moses 
sent a very respectful and proper request to 
the king of that country to be permitted to 
pass through the land by the public road. 
The king of Edom refused his request, how- 
ever, in a very uncivil manner, and prepared 
to resist, if Moses should attempt to pass. As 
the Edomites were descendants of Esau, the 
brother of Jacob, from whom the Israelites 
were descended, God would not permit Mo- 
ses to force his passage through their country 
though he could easily have done it. He 
preferred that Moses should take the people 
by a more circuitous or round-about way, 
which would avoid the territory of Edom. 
They turned, therefore, and went into the 
wilderness, as near the southern border of 
Edom as they could keep without encroaching, 
and encamped at Mount Hor. 

At this place Moses was called upon to 
suffer another great affliction in the death of 
his brother — he who had been his companion 
from the moment that he first went to Pha- 
raoh to demand the release of the people ; he 
who had been his friend and counsellor. It 
is true that on one occasion Aaron had been 
guilty in the matter of the golden calf, and on 



182 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

another that he had joined with Miriam in 
reproaching Moses ; but with these two ex- 
ceptions, and they were but momentary, they 
had lived in the utmost peace and harmony and 
affection, just as brothers ought to live. But 
it is the will of God that the best of friends and 
the most affectionate of relatives should part : 
they cannot always live together. Sin which 
brought ruin into the world brought death 
also, and now all must die. Happy are those 
friends, who when they separate on earth 
have the prospect of meeting in heaven, never 
to be separated. " Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord ;" and blessed are the 
living who have a hope in God which maketh 
not ashamed. 

" Friend after friend departs ! 
Who hath not lost a friend ? 
There is no union here of hearts, 

Which hath not here an end. 
Were this frail world our final rest, 
Living or dying, none were blest. 

" Beyond the flight of time, I 

Beyond the reign of death, 
There surely is some blessed clime 

Where life is not a breath ; 
Nor life's affections, transient fire, 
Whose sparks fly upward and expire. 

u There is a world above, 

Where parting is unknown, 
A long eternity of Love 

Formed for the good alone ; 
And Faith beholds the dying here 
Translated to the glorious sphere. 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 183 

** Thus, star by star declines, 
Till all are passed away ; 
As morning high and higher shines, 

To pure and perfect day, 
Nor sink those stars in empty night, 
But hide themselves in heaven's own light'* 

There were some circumstances about the 
death of Aaron which are very striking and 
peculiar. He, it will be recollected, was the 
high priest of God among the Jewish people. 
When God, then, informed Moses that Aaron 
must die before they entered into Canaan, be- 
cause he had joined with him in the sin about 
the water from the rock, he was directed to 
take Aaron and Eleazar, the eldest son of 
Aaron, and bring them to Mount Hor. There 
he was to strip Aaron of his priestly garments 
and put them on Eleazar, in token that the 
office of high priest had been transferred from 
one to the other. Moses did this, and Aaron 
with the most perfect resignation to the will 
of God submitted to it ; and, then, without 
pain or sickness or distress, laid himself down 
and died. His eyes were closed by Moses 
and Eleazer, who wept over him with the 
tenderness of a brother and a son. Much as 
he had of imperfection in his character, on 
the whole, he was in that dark age a bright 
example of devotedness to God — he had truly 
repented of his sins ; he had, by faith in the 
Saviour who was to come, laid hold of the 
promise of God, and died in peace, and now 
rests in glory. When Moses and Eleazar had 



184 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

given vent to their feelings, they descended 
from the mount, and as Aaron was no longer 
with them, but the people saw Eleazar clothed 
in the garments of his father, they understood 
that he was dead ; and though they had often 
reviled him, and rebelled against him while 
living, they mourned for him when dead. 
According to the custom of the times they 
mourned thirty days, and the sacred history 
clearly intimates that his death was universally 
regretted, for " all the congregation mourned 
for him, even the whole house of Israel." 

When the thirty days were ended, during 
which the people had mourned for Aaron, 
their journey was resumed, and they were 
opposed on their march by one of the petty 
kings of the land, called Arad, but he was 
soon defeated, and there was but little inter- 
ruption to the journey on his account. There 
was one circumstance, however, which greatly 
distressed the people, viz. that they were 
compelled to go round the land of Eden by a 
long and troublesome march, and we are told 
that the " soul of the people was much dis- 
couraged because of the way ;" that is, they 
were very much out of spirits, and disappointed 
because they could not get immediately to 
Canaan. As usual with them, this led to 
murmuring against God and against Moses, 
and they took up the old complaint that they 
were brought out of Egypt to die in the wil- 
derness, and they also spoke contemptuously 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



185 



of the manna which God had provided them, 
calling it " light bread," and saying, as chil- 
dren often do, that they hated it. For this 
God sent fiery serpents among them, and 
multitudes were bitten. These serpents were 
called fiery, probably, because they appear- 
ed very much like bright brass. Whether 
they were serpents such as usually existed in 
the wilderness, or whether they were brought 
upon the Israelites in a miraculous way, we 
cannot tell, neither is it material. All we 
know is, that God sent them among the peo- 
ple as a punishment for their transgression, 
and had it not been for the intercession of 
Moses, we know not how many might have 
been destroyed. God heard his prayers 




186 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

however, and told him to make a brazen ser- 
pent, and put it on a pole, so that it could be 
seen at a great distance, and then to proclaim 
that whoever among the Israelites had been 
bitten by the fiery serpents, if they would 
only look at the brazen serpents they should 
live and not die. Moses did so ; and they 
who looked on the brazen serpent recovered. 

This incident is very remarkable, because 
it is used so beautifully by our Saviour, to 
illustrate the benefits of his death, and faith 
in him. In his very important and instruc- 
tive conversation with Nicodemus, the ruler 
of the Jews, who came to him by night, in 
the character of an anxious inquirer, our Lord 
calls his attention to the great doctrine of faith 
in a crucified Redeemer :— " As Moses lifted 
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up ; that who- 
soever belie veth in him should not perish* but 
have eternal life. For God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that 
whosever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." John iii. 14 — 16. 

The lesson which our Saviour would teach 
us by this allusion to the brazen serpent, is 
very justly summed up by an eminent writer 
in these words : — " As the brazen serpent 
was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so our 
Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross : 
as the Israelites were to look at the brazen 
serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 187 

salvation. As God provided no other remedy 
for the wounded Israelites than this looking, 
so he has provided no other remedy for sin- 
ners than faith in the blood of his dear Son : 
as he who looked at the brazen serpent was 
cured and did live, so he that belie veth on the 
Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have 
everlasting life ; as neither the serpent, nor 
the looking at it, but the invisible power of 
God healed the, people, so neither the cross 
of Christ, nor his being merely crucified, but 
the pardon he has bought by his blood, com- 
municated by the powerful energy of his 
spirit, saves the souls of men." Have we 
obeyed the call, " Look unto me and be 
saved :" ". believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." 
If we have not " how shall we escape if we 
neglect so great salvation?" 

After the incident of the brazen serpent, the 
journey of the people was continued, and 
though opposed by Sihon, king of the Amo- 
rites, the people were successful, and Sihon 
was utterly defeated ; and they took posses- 
sion of his land from the river Anion to a 
brook which is called in Scripture Jabbok ; 
and for a while they rested quietly in their 
camp. 



188 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Position of the Israelites at this time. — Balak 
and Balaam.— -The people again number- 
ed. — Moses warned of his death, and his 
successor appointed. — Defeat of the Mi- 
dianites. — Request of the tribes of Reuben 
and Gad granted by Moses.~Men chosen 
to divide Canaan. 

As we are now drawing near to the termi- 
nation of our history, and as, during most of 
the volume, we have been going with Moses 
and the people of Israel through the wilderness, 
it will be gratifying to our readers to learn 
that we are now to consider them as having 
reached one of the last of their encampments 
previous to the period when they actually en- 
tered on the possession of the land of Canaan. 
After a battle which they had with Og, the 
king of Bashan, whom they easily overthrew, 
they quietly encamped on the plains of Moab, 
on the eastern side of the river Jordan, oppo- 
site to the celebrated city of Jericho. These 
plains of Moab afforded a most delightful 
place of encampment. They were consider- 
ably elevated above the level of the river Jor- 
dan, at about eight miles distant, and they 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 189 

had, as their eastern boundary, the high 
mountainous ridge, called Abarim. Of this 
mountain, Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, were only 
parts ; and from their heights there was a 
noble prospect of the land of Canaan, as it lay 
towards the west, with its wooded hills, and 
luxuriant valleys. While they were here, 
that very interesting incident occurred which 
is detailed in the twenty-second, twenty-third, 
and twenty-fourth chapters of the book of 
Numbers, viz. the story of Balak and Balaam. 
As, however, this has little to do with the 
history of Moses, his name not being at all 
connected with it, we shall be obliged to pass 
over it in silence, except so far as to quote 
the remarkable prophecy of Balaam, in which 
he refers to our blessed Saviour as the " star 
of Jacob :" — " I shall see him, but not now : 
I shall behold him, but not nigh : there shall 
come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall 
rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners 
of Moab, and destroy all the children of 
Sheth." Numb. xxiv. 18. The whole story 
of Balaam is worthy of a most serious peru- 
sal, as it teaches the awful nature of the sin 
of covetousness, and the dreadful end of 
those, who for the love of money will sin 
against God, and lose their own souls. 

There was only one circumstance occurred 
while the people were here encamped, which 
disturbed the happiness of Moses, now that 
he enjoyed the rich satisfaction of having 



190 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

brought them, after forty years of toil and 
sorrow, so near to the termination of their 
journeyings. This event was the defection 
of the people, as they were seduced to licen- 
tiousness by the enticements of the daughters 
of Moab. This was a plan devised by wicked 
Balaam ; and it succeeded so far as to call 
down a heavy judgment on the guilty ; and 
Moses must have been much pained at heart, 
when he was compelled, in order to put a 
stop to the wickedness to have the ringleaders 
punished with immediate death. In this, and 
some other things in the sacred history which 
look like cruelty in Moses, we are to consider 
him not in the light of a private person, but a 
magistrate, acting under the express authority 
and direction of God. 

While the people were encamped in the 
plains of Moab, God directed Moses to have 
them once more numbered. There appear to 
have been two reasons for this, one of which 
is of a very melancholy character ; which was, 
that it might be shown to them how true God 
had been to his word, when he said that, on 
account of their rebellions, not one of those 
who were twenty years old and upwards when 
they left the land of Egypt, should ever reach 
the land of Canaan, except Caleb and Joshua. 
When the numbering was finished we find 
this record :— -" But among these there was 
not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron 
the priest numbered, when they numbered the 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 191 

children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 
For the Lord had said of them, They shall 
surely die in the wilderness. And there was 
not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of 
Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ? ' 
Numb. xxvi. 64, 65. The other reason why 
they were numbered, appears to have been 
that there might be an equitable distribution 
of the land of Canaan according to their num- 
bers. 

While at this place, also, Moses was di- 
rected to march with the people against the 
Midianites, who were overthrown in a great 
battle, and utterly destroyed. 

When things were perfectly tranquil, the 
tribes of Reuben and Gad, with half the tribe 
of Manasseh, made a request of Moses to be 
permitted to settle in that part of the country 
called the land of Jazer and Gilead, which 
being very fine pasture ground was remark- 
ably favourable to the raising of cattle. At 
first Moses did not seem disposed to grant 
their request, but rather suspected them of the 
selfish wish of getting rid of fighting for the 
land of Canaan, and leaving to their brethren of 
the other tribes all the toil and danger of the 
conquest. They succeeded, however, in con- 
vincing him that they had no such intention : 
that they were willing to assist their brethren 
in the conquest of the land on the western 
side of Jordan, and then return and enjoy the 
portion which they requested. On these 



192 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

conditions he granted their petition, and it 
will be found by all who are acquainted with 
the history, while they were led by Joshua, 
that they faithfully fulfilled their contract. 

During the period of the encampment on 
the plains of Moab, every thing was settled 
in relation to the division and conquest of the 
land of Canaan : the men were appointed to 
attend to this duty, and the different portions 
of the land assigned to each tribe. There 
was also a great variety of minor regulations 
entered into, which belonging, as they do, 
rather to the civil and ecclesiastical history of 
the Jews, than to the life of Moses, cannot 
here be noticed. 

We have purposely left to the close of this 
chapter, a circumstance which, in order of 
time, a little preceded some of the events 
which have just been mentioned, viz. the 
warning which Moses received of his ap- 
proaching death. It will be well recollected 
by all our readers, that at the time when Mo- 
ses and Aaron were guilty of the act of dis- 
obedience at Meribah-Kadesh which roused 
against them the anger of God, they were ex- 
cluded from the land of Canaan ; a terrible 
sentence, but right, because the judge of all 
the earth did it. In consequence of this sen- 
tence, Aaron died, as we have seen, at Mount 
Hor, in the wilderness. But now that the 
people were nearly ready to experience the 
fulfilment of the promise, that as children of 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 193 

Abraham and Isaac and Jacob they should in- 
herit the land of Canaan, Moses must have 
felt, without any intimation from God, that 
his end drew near. But God, whose mercies 
are mingled with his judgments, saw fit to 
give him full and explicit warning. We have 
the relation in the following words : — " And 
the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into 
this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I 
have given unto the children of Israel. And 
when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be 
gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy bro- 
ther was gathered. For ye rebelled against 
my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the 
strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at 
the water before their eyes : that is the water 
of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of 
Zin." Numb, xxvii. 12—14. 

It is here that we behold the moral gran- 
deur of the character of Moses. Without 
repining ; without discontent ; without any 
.exhibition of fear or distress, he receives the 
warning from God in the spirit of perfect sub- 
mission ; and as a true lover of his people, 
and a most firm believer in the faithfulness of 
God, we only hear him request that a suitable 
successor might be appointed to conduct the 
people of God into the land promised to their 
fathers : — " And Moses spake unto the Lord, 
saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits 
of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 
which may go out before them, and which 

R 



194 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

may lead them out, and which may bring 
them in ; that the congregation of the Lord 
be not as sheep which have no shepherd." 
Numb, xxvii. 15 — 17. This request was im- 
mediately complied with : — " And the Lord 
said unto Moses, take thee Joshua the son 
of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay 
thine hand upon him ; and set him before 
Eleazer the priest, and before all the congre- 
gation ; and give him a charge in their sight. 
And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon 
him, that all the congregation of the children 
of Israel may be obedient. And he shall 
stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask 
counsel for him after the judgment of Urim 
before the Lord : at his word shall they go 
out, and at his word they shall come in, both 
he, and all the children of Israel with him, 
even all the congregation. And Moses did as 
the Lord commanded him : and he took Jo- 
shua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, 
and before all the congregation : And he laid , 
his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, 
as the Lord commanded by the hand of Mo- 
ses." Numb, xxvii. 18—23. 

It here appears that Joshua, even during 
the remainder of the life of Moses, was to 
have some share of the authority, and this 
no doubt was, that the personal influence of 
Moses might be exerted with the people, so 
that they might be habituated to consider Jo- 
shua as his successor. In one respect only 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 195 

he was very evidently inferior to Moses. 
Moses always had access to the " Most Holy 
Place," to consult God as to the course of 
conduct he was to pursue ; but this privilege 
was never granted to Joshua. When he con- 
sulted God he had to make application to the 
high priest, who asked counsel of the Lord by 
the Urim and Thummim. It is for this rea- 
son we are well persuaded that Joshua could 
not be the " prophet like unto Moses," who 
was promised in Deut. xviii. 15 ; but that we 
must look further, even to Jesus the Saviour, 
who was truly that successor of Moses, who 
will introduce those who believe in him into 
" that better country," even the heavenly 
Canaan, promised to those who shall be faith- 
ful unto death. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Moses repeats the laws, with additions. — 
Triumphant song after the recapitulation. 
— Prophetic benediction. — Moses ascends 
Mount Nebo. — Vieivs the promised land 
and dies. — Concluding reflections. 

When the prophet Isaiah was sent to He- 
zekiah, king of Judah, to inform him of his 



196 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

approaching death, the language he was di- 
rected to use was, " set thine house in order." 
Perhaps no individual upon earth ever set 
himself more earnestly and perseveringly to 
have all his work fully accomplished before 
Ins death than did Moses. His own spiritual 
concerns were already provided for : he had 
given his heart to God in his early days : he 
had not left, till warned of his death, all pre- 
paration for eternity. Now he had nothing 
to do but make his earthly arrangements : to 
do every thing which it was in his power to 
accomplish, towards the prosperity of his 
people, and thus to honour God by the closing 
labours, as he had by the exemplary devoted- 
ness of his life. 

In order to this he sets about a repetition 
of all the laws which had heretofore been de- 
livered to the people : he reduces them all 
to writing : gives directions as to the times 
and methods in which they should be kept in 
the memory of the people. Besides this he 
entered into various explanations with the 
people : he endeavours to humble them by 
calling their attention to all their past rebel- 
lions, and does not spare himself when he 
speaks of the transaction at Meribah-Kadesh. 

In the course of the recapitulation he warns 
them of the evils of idolatry, and tells them of 
the terrible consequences which would befall 
them if they departed from God. Indeed, if 
we carefully examine the book of Deuterono- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 197 

my, there is not one single point upon which 
we could imagine that Moses could have been 
more faithful, more affectionate in what he 
told the people, and what he exhorted them 
to do. He could have said, just as the apostle 
Paul did when he parted from the elders at 
Ephesus, " And now, behold, I know that ye 
all, among whom 1 have gone preaching the 
kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 
Wherefore I take you to record this day, that 

1 am pure from the blood of all men. For I 
have not shunned to declare unto you all the 
counsel of God." ' Acts xx. 25 — 27 ; and he 
could also adopt the language of the same 
apostle, " For I am now ready to be offered, 
and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith : Henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
shall give me at that day : and not to me only, 
but unto all them also that love his appearing." 

2 Tim. iv. 6—8. 

At the age of one hundred and twenty 
years, Moses called the people together, and 
after alluding to his age, in a very touching 
manner, exhorted them to courage and obedi- 
ence. He then gave a solemn charge to Jo- 
shua, and presented the priests with a copy 
of the law, directing them most solemnly as 
to the method of instructing the people. And 
after this, God gave him a prophetic song 
r2 



198 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

which he was to repeat to the people. This 
is so sublime and touching, that we cannot 
forbear to copy it entire. 

'* Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak ; 
and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech 
shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon 
the tender herb, and as the showers upon the 
^rass : Because I will publish the name of the 
Lord : ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 
He is the Rock, his work is perfect : for all 
his ways are judgment : a God of truth, and 
without iniquity, just and right is he. They 
have corrupted themselves, their spot is not 
the spot of his children ; they are a perverse 
and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite 
the Lord, O foolish people and unwise ? is 
not he thy father that hath bought thee ? hath 
he not made thee, and established thee ? Re- 
member the days of old, consider the years 
of many generations : ask thy father, and he 
will show thee ; thy elders, and they will tell 
thee. When the Most High divided to the 
nations their inheritance, when he separated 
the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the 
people according to the number of the children 
of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his peo- 
ple ; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He 
found him in a desert land, and in the waste 
howling wilderness ; he led him about, he in- 
structed him, he kept him as the apple of his 
eye. As the eagle stirreth up her nest, flut- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 199 

tereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her 
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her 
wings ; so the Lord alone did lead him, and 
there was no strange god with him. He made 
him ride on the high places of the earth, that 
he might eat the increase of the fields ; and he 
made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil 
out of the flinty rock ; batter of kine, and 
milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of 
the breed of Bash an, and goats, with the fat 
of kidneys of wheat ; and thou didst drink 
the pure blood of the grape. But Jeshurun 
waxed fat, and kicked : thou art waxen fat, 
thou art grown thick, thou art covered with 
fatness ; then he forsook God which made 
him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his sal- 
vation. They provoked him to jealousy with 
strange gods, with abominations provoked 
they him to anger. They sacrificed unto de- 
vils, not to God ; to gods whom they knew 
not ; to new gods that came newly up, whom 
your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that 
begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast for- 
gotten God that formed thee. And when the 
Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the 
provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. 
And he said, I will hide my face from them, 
I will see what their end shall be ; for they 
are a very fro ward generation, children in 
whom is no faith. They have moved me to 
jealousy with that which is not God ; they 
have provoked me to anger with their vanities : 



200 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

and I will move them to jealousy with those 
which are not a people ; I will provoke them 
to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is 
kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto 
the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth 
with her increase, and set on fire the founda- 
tions of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs 
upon them ; I will spend mine arrows upon 
them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and 
devoured with burning heat, and with bitter 
destruction : I will also send the teeth of beasts 
upon them, with the poison of serpents of the 
dust. The sword without, and terror within, 
shall destroy both the young man and the 
virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray 
hairs. I said, I would scatter them into cor- 
ners, I would make the remembrance of them 
to cease from among men : Were it not that 
I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their ad- 
versaries should behave themselves strangely, 
and lest they should say, Our hand is high, 
and the Lord hath not done all this. For they 
are a nation void of counsel, neither is there 
any understanding in them. O that they 
were wise, that they understood this, that 
they would consider their latter end ! 

" How should one chase a thousand, and 
two put ten thousand to flight, except their 
Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut 
them up ? For their rock is not as our Rock, 
even our enemies themselves being judges. 
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 201 

the fields of Gomorrah : their grapes are 
grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter : their 
wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel 
venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store 
with me, and sealed up among my treasures ? 
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense ; 
their foot shall slide in due time : for the day 
of their calamity is at hand, and the things 
that shall come upon them make haste. For 
the Lord shall judge his people, and repent 
himself for his servants, when he seeth that 
their power is gone, and there is none shut 
up, or left. And he shall say, where are 
their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, 
which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and 
drank the wine of their drink offerings ? let 
them rise up and help you, and be your pro- 
tection. See now that I, even I, am he, and 
there is no god with me : I kill, and I make 
alive ; I wound, and I heal : neither is there 
any that can deliver out of my hand. For I 
lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for 
ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and 
mine hand take hold on judgment ; I will ren- 
der vengeance to mine enemies, and will re- 
ward them that hate me. I will make mine 
arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall 
devour flesh ; and that with the blood of the 
slain and of the captives, from the beginning 
of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye 
nations, with his people : for he will avenge 
the blood of his servants, and will render ven- 



202 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

geance to his adversaries, and will be merciful 
unto his land, and to his people." Deut. xxxii. 
1—43. 

Immediately succeeding this, Moses de- 
livered to the people his prophetic blessing. 
It pointed out the future history of the various 
tribes ; and concluded in these noble and ani- 
mating and consoling strains : — " The eternal 
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the 
everlasting arms*: and he shall thrust out the 
enemy from before thee ; and shall say, De- 
stroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety 
alone : the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a 
land of corn and wine ; also his heavens shall 
drop down dew. Happy art thou, Israel : 
who is like unto thee, O people saved by the 
Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the 
sword of thy excellency ! and thine enemies 
shall be found liars unto thee ; and thou shalt 
tread upon their high places." Deut. xxxiii. 
27—29. 

Thus, we see, that the last days of Moses 
were the most active and most happy of his 
life : he was bringing that work to a close which 
the Lord had appointed him to do ; and though 
he knew that as soon as it was finished he was 
to die, he made no delays : he went on stea- 
dily and firmly, because his sure hope was in 
God. 

And now came the time when, having 
finished his course, he was to enter upon his 
reward. The sacred history tells us : — " And 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 203 

Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto 
the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, 
that is over against Jericho. And the Lord 
showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan ; 
and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, 
and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto 
the utmost sea ; and the south, and the plain 
of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, 
unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, this 
is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto 
Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it 
unto thy seed : I have caused thee to see it 
with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over 
thither. So Moses the servant of the Lord 
died there in the land of Moab, according to 
the word of the Lord. And he buried him in 
a valley in the land of Moab, over against 
Beth-peor : but no man knoweth of his sepul- 
chre unto this day." Deut. xxxiv. 1 — 6. 

We have now a task to perform which is 
far more difficult than all the preceding his- 
tory. We have no funeral sermon to deliver, 
but we have a few words to offer on the cha- 
racter of him whose history it has been our 
pleasure thus far to follow. The difficulty 
of this work, however, is somewhat lessened, 
because we find it in a measure done to our 
hand, by one who was far more competent to 
the task than we can pretend to be ; and such 
extracts as may express our own views and 
feelings will, in conclusion, be presented to 
our readers. 



204 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

" The eulogium or character given of Moses 
by the Spirit of God, though very concise, is yet 
full and satisfactory. ' And there arose not a 
prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom 
Jehovah knew face to face ; in all the signs 
and the wonders which the Lord sent him to 
do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to 
all his servants, and to all his land ; and in 
all that mighty hand,' (all conquering power 
and influence) ' and in all the great terror 
which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel. 
Moses is called the servant of God, and he 
has farther this high character, that as a ser- 
vant, he was faithful to God in all his house.' 
Heb. iii. 5. He faithfully discharged the trust 
reposed in him, and totally forgetting himself, 
and his own secular interest, with that also 
of his family, he laboured incessantly to pro- 
mote God's honour and the people's welfare, 
which, on many occasions, he showed, were 
dearer to him than his own life. Moses was 
in every respect a great man ; for every vir- 
tue that constitutes genuine nobility, was con- 
centrated in him, and fully displayed in his 
conduct. He always conducted himself as 
a man conscious of his own integrity, and of 
the guidance and protection of God, under 
whose orders he constantly acted. He there- 
fore betrays no confusion in his views, nor 
indecision in his measures — he was with- 
out anxiety, because he was conscious of the 
rectitude of his motives, and that the cause 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 205 

which he espoused was the cause of God, 
and that his power and faithfulness were 
pledged for his support. His courage and 
fortitude were unshaken and unconquerable, 
because his reliance was unremittingly fixed 
on the unchangeableness of Jehovah. He 
left Egypt, having an eye to the recompense 
of reward in another world ; and never lost 
sight of this grand object; he was therefore 
neither discouraged by difficulties, nor elated 
by prosperity. He who in Egypt refused to 
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, there- 
by renouncing the claim he might have had 
to the Egyptian throne, was never likely to 
be influenced by secular views in the govern- 
ment of the miserable multitudes which he 
led out of that country. His renunciation of 
the court of Pharaoh and its advantages, was 
the amplest proof that he neither sought nor 
expected honour or emolument in the wilder- 
ness, among a people who had scarcely any 
thing but what they received by immediate 
miracle from the hand of God. 

We cannot fail here to notice the disinter- 
estedness of Moses in reference to his family, 
as well as to himself. This is a singular 
case : his own tribe, that of Levi, he left 
without any earthly possession ; and though 
to minister to God was the most honourable 
employment, yet the Levites could never arise 
to any political consequence in Israel. Even 
his own sons became blended in the common 
S 



206 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

mass of the Levites, and possessed no kind 
of distinction among their brethren. Though 
his confidence in God was ever unshaken, yet 
he had a life of toil and perpetual distress, 
occasioned by the ignorance, obstinacy, and 
baseness of the people over whom he pre- 
sided ; and he died in their service, leaving 
no other property but his tent behind him. 
Of the spoils taken in war, we never read of 
the portion of Moses : he had none, he want- 
ed none, his treasure was in heaven, and where 
his treasure was, there also was his heart. 

The manner in which he bore the sentence 
of his exclusion from the promised inherit- 
ance, is an additional proof of his persuasion 
of the reality of the invisible world : no tes- 
tiness, no murmuring, no expatiating on for- 
mer services ; no passionate intreaties to have 
the sentence reversed, appear in the spirit or 
conduct of this truly great man. He bowed 
to the decision of that justice which he knew 
could not act wrong ; and having buried the 
world, as to himself, he had no earthly attach- 
ments ; he was obeying the will of God, in 
leading the people, and therefore, when his 
master chose to dismiss him from his service, 
he was content ; and saw, without regret or 
envy, another appointed to his office. 

The moral character of Moses is almost im- 
maculate. That he offended Jehovah at the 
waters of Meribah, there can be no doubt; 
but in what the offence consisted, commenta- 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 207 

tors and critics are greatly at a loss to ascer- 
tain. Had the offence been committed by any 
ordinary person, it would probably have pass- 
ed between God and the conscience, without 
any public reprehension. But Moses was 
great, and supereminently favoured ; and a 
fault in him derived much of its moral delin- 
quency from these very circumstances. He 
did not " sanctify the Lord in the sight of the 
people ;" he did not fully show that God him- 
self was the sole worker : he appeared by his 
conduct to exhibit himself as an agent indis- 
pensably necessary in the promised miraculous 
supply ; and this might have had the most 
dangerous consequences on the minds of this 
gross people, had not God thus marked it with 
his displeasure. This awful lesson to the le- 
gislator, taught the people that their help 
came from God, and not from man ; and that 
consequently, they must repose their confi- 
dence in him alone 

At a distant view, there appears to be very 
little observable in the death of Moses ; but 
on a nearer approach, we shall find it to have 
been the most honourable, I might add, the 
most glorious, with which any human being 
was ever favoured. As to his death itself, it 
is simply said, " he died in the land of Moab 
— according to the word of the Lord." He 
was in familiar conversation with his Maker : 
and while in the act of viewing the land, and 
receiving the last information relative to it, the 



208 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

ancient covenant with the patriarchs, and the 
performance of the covenant in putting their 
posterity in possession of this goodly inhe- 
ritance, he yielded up the ghost, and suddenly 
passed from the verge of the earthly, into the 
heavenly Canaan. Thus without the labour 
and the delay of passing through the type, he 
entered at once into the possession of the anti- 
type ; having simply lost the honour of leading 
the people a little farther, whom, with so much 
care and solicitude, he had brought thus far. 

There is another circumstance in his death 
which requires particular notice. It is said, 
" He died — according to the word of the 
Lord:" the original words signify literally, 
at (or upon) the mouth of Jehovah ; which 
one beautifully interprets thus, " by a kiss of 
the word of Jehovah." 

The last circumstance worthy of note is, 
that God buried him, which is an honour no 
human being ever received besides himself. 

It may be asked how Moses, who was bred 
up at an idolatrous court, which he did not 
quit till the fortieth year of his age, got that 
acquaintance with the true God, which the 
apostle states him to have had : and that faith 
by which he realized spiritual and invisible 
things ; and through which he despised all 
worldly grandeur and secular emolument !~ 
" By faith," says the apostle, " Moses, when 
he was come to years, refused to be called the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 209 

from God, consult their senses, and depend 
upon man ; and the manner in which Moses 
and Aaron performed the miracle which God 
commanded them to do in his name, was such 
as to confirm them in the carnality of their 
views, and cause them to depend on an arm 
of flesh. ' Ye therefore shall not go into the 
promised land,' said the Lord : and the death 
of them both was the fullest proof to this peo- 
ple, that it was not by might nor by power, 
but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts, that 
their enemies were expelled, and that them- 
selves were introduced and established in the 
promised inheritance. This seems to be the 
spirit of the whole business : and as Moses 
had no other end in view but the glory of 
God, it must have been a supreme satisfaction 
to his pious soul, that this end was so effec- 
tually promoted, though even at the expense 
of his life. 

" At a distant view there appears to be very 
little observable in the death of Moses ; but 
on a nearer approach, we shall find it to have 
been the most honourable, I might add, the 
most glorious, with which any human being 
was ever favoured. As to his death itself, it 
is simply said, ' he died in the land of Moab — 
according to the word of the Lord.' He was, 
as has already been observed, in familiar con- 
versation with his Maker : and while in the 
act of viewing the land, and receiving the 
last information relative to it, the ancient co- 
s2 



210 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

venant with the patriarchs, and the perform- 
ance of the covenant in putting their posterity 
in possession of this goodly inheritance, he 
yielded up the ghost, and suddenly passed 
from the verge of the earthly, into the heavenly 
Canaan. 

" The last circumstance worthy of note, is 
that God buried him, which is an honour no 
human being ever received besides himself. 
From the tradition referred to by Saint Jude, 
verse 9., it appears that Michael, the arch- 
angel, was employed on this occasion ; that 
Satan disputed the matter with him, probably 
wishing the burial place of Moses to be known, 
that it might become an excitement to super- 
stition and idolatry ; but being rebuked by the 
Lord, he was obliged to give over the conten- 
tion ; and no man knoweth of his sepulchre 
unto this day. 

" Thus end the life and the work of the 
writer of the Pentateuch, who, by.the treasures 
of wisdom and knowledge which he has amass- 
ed in those five books, has enriched the whole 
civilized earth, and indeed greatly promoted that 
very civilization. His works, we may justly 
say, have been a kind of text-book to almost 
every writer on geology, geography, chronolo- 
gy, astronomy, natural history, ethics, jurispru- 
dence, political economy, theology, poetry, 
and criticism, from his time to the present 
day. Books, to which the choicest writers 
and philosophers in Pagan antiquity, have 



THE LIFE OF MOSES. 211 

been deeply indebted ; and which were the 
text-books to all the prophets — books from 
which the flimsy writers against Divine Re- 
velation, have derived their natural religion, 
and all their moral excellence : — books written 
in all the energy and purity of the incompara- 
ble language in which they are composed ; 
and finally, books, which for importance of 
matter, variety of information, dignity of sen- 
timent, accuracy of facts, impartiality, simpli- 
city, and sublimity of narration, tending to 
improve and ennoble the intellect, and ameli- 
orate the physical and moral condition of man, 
have never been equalled, and can only be 
paralleled by the gospel of the Son of God ! 
Fountain of endless mercy, justice, truth, and 
beneficence ! How much are thy gifts and 
bounties neglected by those who do not read 
this law ; and by those who having read it, 
are not morally improved by it, and made 
wise unto salvation ! 

" It may be asked how Moses, who was 
bred up at an idolatrous court, which he did 
not quit till the fortieth year of his age, got 
that acquaintance with the true God, which 
the apostle states him to have had : and that 
faith by which he realized spiritual and invi- 
sible things ; and through which he despised 
all worldly grandeur and secular emolument ! 
* By faith,' says the apostle, « Moses, when 
he was come to years, refused to be called the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather 



212 THE LIFE OF MOSES. 

to suffer affliction with the people of God, 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sea- 
son ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than the treasures in Egypt ; for he 
had respect unto the recompense of the re- 
ward.' Heb. xi. 24, &c. This certainly im- 
plies a degree of religious knowledge, asso- 
ciated with an experimental acquaintance with 
divine things, which we can scarcely ever 
suppose to have been at all the result of an 
Egyptian education. But we shall cease to 
be pressed with any difficulty here, when we 
consider the circumstance of his being provi- 
dentially nursed by his own mother, under 
the authority and direction of the Egyptian 
princess. This gave him the privilege of 
frequent intercourse with his parents, and 
others of the Hebrews, who worshipped the 
true God ; and from them he undoubtedly 
learned all the great truths of that religion 
which were taught and practised among the 
Patriarchs. The circumstance of his Hebrew 
origin, his exposure on the Nile, his being 
found and adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh, 
were facts which could not be concealed, and 
must have been notorious at the Egyptian 
court : and when these points are considered, 
we need not be surprised that he never could 
be so identified among the Egyptians, as that 
his Hebrew extraction should be forgotten. 

" That the person whom God designed to 
be the deliverer of his people, should have 



THE LIFE OF MOSES, 213 

been a Hebrew by birth, and have retained 
all his natural attachment to his own people, 
and yet have been brought up by Pharaoh's 
daughter, and had all the advantages of a 
highly finished education, which the circum- 
stances of his own family could not have af- 
forded ; is all a master-piece of wisdom in the 
designs of the divine Providence. Besides, 
Moses by this education must have been well 
known, and even popular among the Egyp- 
tians ; and therefore the subsequent public 
part he took in behalf of the Hebrews, must 
have excited the greater attention, and pro- 
cured him the greater respect, both among the 
Egyptians and his own people. All these 
circumstances taken together, show the mani- 
fold wisdom and gracious Providence of God. 
" On the whole we may remark, that when 
God calls any person to an extraordinary 
work, he so orders it in the course of his 
Providence, that he shall have every qualifi- 
cation necessary for that work. This was 
the case with Moses : — his Hebrew extraction, 
the comeliness of his person, his Egyptian 
education, his natural firmness and constancy 
of character, all concurred with the influences 
of the Divine Spirit, to make him in every 
respect such a person, one among millions, 
who was every way qualified for the great 
work which God had given him to do ; and 
who performed it according to the mind of 
his Maker. Servant of God, well done !" 



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